


Healing

by Kan13



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, BAMF Hunk, BAMF Keith, BAMF Lance, Family, Gen, Hurt Lance, Langst, Love, care, strong family, twin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-11 07:45:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 43,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kan13/pseuds/Kan13
Summary: _The paladins are separated and Lance finds himself back on Earth.  Failing to keep a low profile he tries to figure out how he got there in the first place.  But before he can leave, something gets in the way_





	1. Chapter 1

 

Lance clicked his tongue as he stumbled to the shallow pool and dipped his bleeding hand into it.  He’d just barely made it back to the cave they’d found Blue in to begin with.  His lion was out of commission and only the bare minimum worked.

How had he gotten all the way back here?  Voltron had been in the middle of a fight…

…they had been hit really hard and Pidge had snapped off from the rest of them.  Without their shield, it was only a matter of time before the rest of them had broken off under the barrage of fire.

but that didn’t explain how he’d wound up so far away from the fight.

was he dead?

Lance laughed. His hand hurt too much for him to be dead.

He’d used it to try and shield him when he’d been flung from the pilot seat.  Blue had done her best to stay stable through the turbulence, but it still resulted in a wide gash starting from his middle knuckle all the down the back of his hand and ending at the little wrist nob he didn’t know the name of.

It wasn’t too bad…a few stitches at the widest point, but it would be ok.  Walking back to the lion he racked his brain.

What now?

Wrapping up his hand in the linen he found in the lions first aid box, he worked on trying to contact the others.

“Shiro?”  

Nothing.

“Pidge?  Hunk?  Come in!”

Nothing.

“Allura?  Coran?  …Arg, Keith?!  Anyone?!”

Nothing.

“Common guys!  Where are you?”

Static erupted on the coms and Lance grinned, 

“Bless you Pidge and Hunk!  Can you hear me?!”

“Who is this?”

Lance scowled.  That wasn’t a voice he recognized.

“Who’s this?”  Lance asked back.  Did he accidentally contact a Galra outpost?  That really would be his luck.

“This is Garrison Command, Identify yourself immediately!”

“Quiznak.”

“What?”

“Nothing, so what’s up?”

“Tell us who you are!”

“What if i don’t want to?”

the com went silent and Lance hurried to figure out how he could change the frequency of Blues com unit.  Normally Hunk and Pidge did this stuff.  Now he wished, not for the first time in his life, that he’d paid better attention.

“MCCLAIN?!”

“I-Iverson?!”  only iverson could spew his name in such a tone.  Lance groaned.

“I don’t believe this!  Where are you?!”

“Eff my life….”

“When Radio control called and let me listen to the conversation i truly almost didn’t believe it!”

“Ef my effing life….”

“Tell us where you are Mcclain!  are the others with you?!”

“….noooo….”

“figures, where are you?”

“6 feet under if i had my way….”

“MCCLAIN!”

“….I’ll come to you,” Lance sighed, “so much for…well…whatever.”

()

“Where did Lance go?” Pidge asked as she limped onto the bridge, “did anyone see where he flew off to?”

“We’re still waiting for Keith and Hunk,” Shiro said wrapping a bandage around his arm, his leg already in a splint, “I didn’t really see where they went, but they all know where our meet up is…don’t they?”

“I don’t know if Hunk and Lance were listening,” Pidge sighed, “they were goofing off with something or other.”

“Well, after i’m done here i’m heading out.  Get yourself looked at and wait until i get back.  I want them to contact me if they get back before me.”

“Roger that.”

()

Lance stole an atv from Keiths place.  Keith would kill him if he took the speeder, and Lance did not have a death wish.  

As he drove closer to the garrison his gut clenched a little tighter.  

What would he say?

What should he say?

Should he lie until the others came to explain it?  

Would they even believe the truth?

When the buildings came into sight Lance could make out more vehicles coming out to meet him.  He noticed, with a grin, that a few of garrison avts were not among them.  

()

“You’re injured?”

“Its just a cut, professor.”

“how did it happen?”

“I raised the wrong hand,” Lance sighed and then stopped when he remembered who he was talking to.  Professor Montgomery only called on students that raised their non dominant hand.  Because the other one should be still taking notes before he erased the board.  

“Ah, yes, I had almost forgotten about your…wit, Mcclain,”

Lance didn’t have anything to say to that.  He knew his reputation and he…well, nothing he could do about it now.

While the doctor stitched up his hand (there were more stitches than he’d thought there would be) he bounced his knee waiting for everything to truly hit the fan.

The school was so…small.  He had remembered it being so BIG!  It had been so intimidating!  Now it was almost sad.  Like he was visiting his old elementary school instead of THE Garrison.  the Apex of space travel on the entire Earth!

“Oh my gosh…”  Lance muttered as it hit him.

“What?” Montgomery leaned closer.

“We are so screwed.”

“MCCLAIN!”

Lance jumped up, shocking the doctor and tore out two of the stitches.

“Professor Iverson, you really have to listen to me first!”  Lance said and froze.  Behind his old instructor was a very familiar face.

“Lance!”

“Mom!?”

His mother, never one for formality, shoved Iverson to one side to get to her son.  She had him wrapped up, telling him off for running away, telling him she was happy he was alright, and then how dare he show up with his hand in such a state, bleeding all over the place.  She did not raise him to be so sloppy.

Of course this was all said in rapid fire Spanish.  All Lance could do was laugh.  Which made his mother stop and smack the back of his head.  But she was smiling as well.

“I’m happy to see you too, mom,” Lance embraced her and kissed her cheek.

“So much, too much,” she said waving her hands, “so much to tell, but not here.”

“One moment, Mrs. Mcclain,” Iverson said as respectfully as possible, “Your son really must stay at the Garrison until we are sure he’s alright.  He still needs to make a statement and tell us what he knows about the others that disappeared with him.”

Lance saw the look and intervened just in time.

“Mom, why don’t you go home and get everything ready?” Lance said, “I kinda just showed up out of the blue and I know how much you don’t like surprises.  I also have to talk to Professor Iverson about a few things.”

His mother fidgeted a little and bit her lip.  She was understandably unwilling to leave the child that had been missing for so long. 

“You don’t leave with anyone but me, you understand?” He shook her finger at him.  Lance laughed again.

“Yes mommy, i got it.”

she nodded, gave him one more hug, and left the room.  good-byes were never her thing. 


	2. Chapter 2

the doctor grumbled to himself about how hard stitching was as he grabbed Lances hand again, forcing Lance to sit down.

“Don’t move,” he ordered and Lance nodded.  Do not anger the guy with the needle.

“Lets start with the simple questions first, Mcclain,” Iverson said taking a seat opposite, “what happened the night you all ran away?”

“…if that’s a simple question i can already tell you that the others are going to be impossible to explain-”

“Mcclain,” Iverson pinched the bridge of his nose, “just give me the facts…please?”

Lance was suddenly overcome with the urge to call the others and tell them he’d gotten Iverson to say ‘please’!  If only he could call them…

“Its a long story,” Lance said.

“We’ve got all night,” Iverson said tossing Lance a granola bar.

()

“Hunk, you ok?!” Keith couldn’t get Red to work.  Yellow also seemed to be out of commission and just floated nearby.  Working his way around zero-G Keith exited the lion and headed over to Hunk.

Getting inside was a little work.  Hunks head was bleeding, but he wasn’t unconscious.  He grabbed the first aid box and began to clean it up

“Keith?”

“I’m right here.  You wacked your head really good.”

“Aaaaand that’sssss bad…”

“I think so.”

Hunk nodded rubbed his eyes, “where’s everyone else?”

“Not around here, but once our lions start working again we’ll head to the meet up point.”

“We lost…”

“Not really,” Keith shrugged, “we fell apart the same time we sliced them in half. I’d say its a draw if you really want to give them any credit at all.”

Hunk scowled at him, “you….you are talking a lot…”

Then Hunks eyes widened, “Oh my gosh, i’m dying…you’re talking to distract me from dying!”

“No, Hunk, you are not dying-”

“Don’t let Lance take my jacket-”

“HUNK!  You are NOT dying!  All head wounds bleed like this, you’ll be fine…just, don’t go to sleep cause you have a concussion.”

“…right…Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m really tired.”

“Tell me about the project you and Pidge are working on.”

As Hunk talked Keith worked on getting the bleeding to stop.

()

“That is impossible to swallow, Mcclain,” Iverson narrowed his eyes at the young cadet.

“I’m telling you, Sir, that everything i said is absolutely true.”

“Aliens.”

“as real as i am sitting here.”

“And you, Garret, Gunderson, and Kogane are seen as heros.”

“And Shiro.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Its the truth!  I can show you were i landed! I can-”

“Mcclain, go home,” Iverson reached out and patted his shoulder, “get some rest.  We’ll talk later.”

“But Sir, this planet is already on the Galra radar!  Earth is weak and highly unprepared for an attack!  The Galra took over the Olkaris and they-”

Iverson shook his head and left.

“Lance,” Montgomery leaned forward, “its not that we don’t believe you…its that this is a lot of information.  How can we not believe you when you show up in an outfit we have never seen before?”

Lance looked down at his paladin armor.  He’d forgotten that he’d been wearing it.  He took out his bayard and activated it.  Montgomery’s jaw dropped.  Lance grinned and put it away.

“You tell Iverson that every thing i said is true and convince him that we need to ramp up our defenses and tech. The Galra are serious and they are dangerous.  But until you guys can get your heads in the game, i am going home to see my family.”

()

Lance waited out front while his dad pulled the car up.  His mother got out and hugged him again.  Then Lance turned to Paul Mcclain with the most shocking red hair anyone had ever seen.  But he was a good matured person and he embraced Lance as strongly as any father would.

“Next time at least leave a note, k?” he asked, not letting go.  Lance grinned and didn’t pull away.  He liked Paul.  the irish man had helped his mother at her new job after they’d moved to the states.  Over time his mom had remarried and Paul became the father that Lance and his siblings had only dreamed of.  He was a happy man that dealt with harsh realities with a smile on his face.  When he did get drunk he was a jovial drunk with a ready and vulgar song he’d sing at the top of his lungs.  But he didn’t drink all that often; only on holidays and for celebrations.  He was clumsy, but he treated Lances mom like a queen and Lance found no fault in that.  

Paul finally pulled back and ruffled his hair, looking at his hand.

“Oh, that doesn’t look too bad.  The way your mother went on last night you’d think it was falling off at the elbow!”

“It is a gaping wound!” she snapped while Lance and Paul laughed.  

“Well, we got food at the house and if we can get back before Milo does, you may have enough hot water for a quick shower.”

“Bless,” Lance sighed, “I missed my own shampoo.”

“The garrison told us not to ask you,” Paul said as they shut the doors to the car, “but, you were ok out there?  you weren’t hurt or…”

Lance grinned and chuckled, “I was fine. I had my teammates with me and we looked after each other.  We made a lot of friends and helped a lot of people.  That’s all i can really tell you.  But with every ounce of Blood-honesty, i’m perfectly fine.”

“Good enough for me,” Paul looked over at his wife who gave Lance a searching look.  Then she nodded.

“fine, but don’t think i won’t give that one eyed jackel a piece of my mind later.”

“You’ll have to fight others for the honor,” Lance laughed, “shiro has dibs.”

()

“finally,” Keith sighed as the yellow lion hummed to life.  He could see his own lion glow as well.  How long had it been?

“hunk I’m going back to my lion, ok?”

“…Yeah…”

“Really try to not fall asleep, i’m going to see if i can’t fly you back to the castle.”

“…ok…”

Keith sighed and hesitated before going back.  Leaving Hunk alone with that level of concussion was not what he was supposed to do, he was sure, but he also needed to get him actual help as well.

Sitting himself down in his seat, Keith tried to contact the others first.

“Shiro? come in.”

silence.

“Pidge?  Lance?”

Silence.

“Coran?  Allura?”

He brought up a search of the area and saw nothing.  No systems nearby, no planets or anything that he could use to determine where they were.

He remembered being told, when he was younger, that if he got lost he should stay put and wait for someone to find him.  It was logical and he’d agreed with the notion at the time.  But back then he didn’t really have anyone he cared about enough.  

Hunk was injured and needed help.  Waiting for help was going to take too long.


	3. Chapter 3

“LANCE!”

“Honey, i’m home!”

“You rat fink!”

Mary, Marco, and Milo ran over and fought for a hug.  It was the reunion he’d wanted and the people he’d wanted for a very long time.  

but he couldn’t get Voltron out of his head.  It sat on his shoulders and in his gut like a weight he couldn’t shake.  He needed to get back out there.  And he needed to make sure Earth knew what was out there.  But he REALLY needed to be with the rest of his team.

But if he left too soon…

“After dinner, we have to talk,” his mom said, “just you and me.”

“Sure,” Lance grinned and shook off the rest of his siblings.  making his way up the stairs to his room he knocked first.  Two, pause, two, pause, three.  That was the code.

“LANCELOT!!”

“SHALOT!” Lance shouted as he threw open the door.  A thin girl got out of her bed and ran over to him.  

“You’re back!”

“How have you been doing, Vik?” ~~  
~~

Lance shared a room with Victoria.  Something he’d never told the others…among other things.

“I’m doing better lately,” she said, “still have problems when i stress out or forget i can’t run as far as i want to.”

“Chess club kick you out again?”

“Mutinous dogs,” she sighed, “they’ll never win another state match without me.  but stop trying to divert attention, tell me where you disappeared to!”

Lance lead her back to her bed.  Specialized with a railing and moving table like those in the ICU; it even moved up and down. She sat  at her place at the head of the bed with a sigh while Lance took his normal place in the middle.

“I’m sorry, Shalot,” Lance said, “I can’t really tell you.”

“Not even ME?”

“Not even you.”

“…what can you tell me?”

“Thaaaat, i don’t feel quite so useless being called Lancelot anymore,” Lance grinned, “I guard and protect a princess in a castle.  I fight bad guys and help save entire worlds.  I’m quite well known, if i do say so my self.”

Victoria laughed, “Should i be worried that my dear Lancelot has fallen for my rival Guinevere?”

“Absolutely not, my Lady!  For the truth of the story is that the fair Gwen had never a feeling for the Knight Lancelot,” Lance leaned forward and lowered his voice dramatically, “The truth, my lady, is always more than the stories tell.”

“Oh~  Tell me that story,” she reached over to her night stand and grabbed her stuffed animal, “I’m ready.”

“How about we get something to eat first?” Lance asked, “I’m starving.  I have no idea how Iverson got so big when all i’ve ever seen him eat is a granola bar.”

 

 

()

“….ssshhhh…ttttsshhhhh..sss…tttt….”

“Hello?”  Keith sent out the lion signal again.  

Nothing.

Sometimes he’d get static, but other than that, nothing.

“I didn’t realize how empty this place really is…”

()

“I didn’t ever think you could enjoy food more, but i was wrong,” Paul mused as he watched Lance practically moan after every bite.  

“I may have been just fine, but the food was awful,” Lance said through a mouth full, “the only thing that made it in any way palatable was Hunks magic cooking hands.”

“Was it like Gruel?”

Lance sighed, “If only.  You can add flavor to Gruel. Goo is a different story as well as what ever it is that Cor..ah, this other guy kept trying to feed us.  Got to the point that Hunk banned him from the kitchen.”

“Why can’t you tell us anything?” Milo scowled, “names aren’t going to hurt much.”

“they can if there’s a wanted poster out for that name,” Lance said, “we’re keeping everything quiet so that we can prepare for the danger without welcoming it into out backyard.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Mmmm…”  Lance tried to think of a way to word it better.  But his mind seemed to just block any more thoughts on the matter.

“I get it,” milo sighed, “i won’t ask anymore.”

“Thanks,” Lance smiled at him and flicked a pea at him.  He flicked on back.  This went on until Mrs. Mcclain added two more helpings of peas to their plate.

“Eat,” she ordered, and they complied. 

()

“once upon a time the handsome and brave Lancelot discovered a frozen princess.”

“Ooooo,” Victoria nestled down into her covers, “Knowing Lancelots past this is gonna be gooooood.”

After dinner their mom had tried to send everyone to bed so she could talk to Lance, but Victoria had insisted on her story before she went to bed.

“He woke her with his fellow heros; you have The King Aurthor our fearless leader and the son of an enemy kingdom, the Red Knight Gawain who, contrary to popular belief, does not get along with Lancelot.  Gawain was also known as Kay.”

“No…”

“Oh yes.  Kay and Gawain are the same person.”

“How?”

“In accordance to the code, i can not disclose the secrets of my fellow knights.”

“Poop.”

“Lamorak was Lancelots best and longest friend.  He was the strongest among them, but also the gentlest.  Then we had Bedivere who was small, spry, and spunky.”

“the history boks do not do Bedivere justice,” Victoria yawned.

“No they did not.  they also got so much wrong,” Lance reached over and tucked her further in, “But you look like you wont stay awake for much more.”

“I hate it when the meds start to kick in…”

“Without them you wouldn’t sleep very well.”

“I like stories…better….”

“Goodnight, Shalott.”

()

“She asleep?”

“Yeah,” Lance sat at the kitchen table and his mom placed toast and jam in front of him, “I take it the talk is serious.”

“It is,” she nodded, taking her seat.  Toast and jam had been the secret midnight snack before the younger kids were born.  Back when they still lived in Cuba.  

“Something you don’t want the others to know?”

“…Mihijo, your father was released from prison.”

Lance swallowed hard along with his initial reaction.

“But he’s still in Cuba, mom.  We’re all the way out here.  He’s not going to come this far just because.”

“Are you calling me stupid?”

“No mama, but i don’t think we should worry.  He’s a drunk and broken man.  He’ll spend the rest of his free days at the bar, poisoning whatever liver he has left.”

She smiled and cupped his face, “I do love your confidence, mihijo.  You and Victoria could always put my heart at ease.”

“You worry too much,” Lance spread the jam and handed the first slice over to her, “You and dad have your anniversary coming up and don’t you dare try to hide the fact that you’re worried about what dad has planned.  I may have issues, but i’m not blind”

Part of the queen treatment Paul gave his wife was a one week getaway on their anniversary.  The kids encouraged it, but Lance knew that she’d only gone because her first husband had been behind bars.  

“I do not like that the beast is free,” she said eating her toast, “I would feel safer leaving you alone if he were still behind bars…or dead.”

Lance nodded and ate his toast as well.  He also would feel better if the beast were six feet under.  But they all knew the day would come when he’d be free.  Mom had prayed he’d be shanked in prison, but Lance didn’t think there was a rosary bead for such a request.

“So where is dad taking you?”

She smiled despite the situation, “a week in the Rockies.  A small cabin on the canyon.”

“You love high places,” Lance leaned on one fist and gave his mother a knowing smile, “how many hints did you drop?”

“Two,” she said without missing a beat, “most wives have to drop hints all year.  i’m glad i nabbed him before some other hussy.”

“Puh-leez, mama,” Lance rolled his eyes, “you shoved every hussy out of the way.”

she slapped his arm playfully, “only that once.”

They laughed and continued to talk until late.


	4. Chapter 4

Keith caught himself.  

He couldn’t sleep.

Hunk had stopped responding a while ago.

He couldn’t sleep till he found help.  His radar still didn’t show any planets or systems nearby.  How long had be been flying?  Had he been flying in one direction?  Or in circles?  was he actually getting anywhere? 

“Come in,” Keith cleared his throat as he tried the com again, “is anyone out there?”

The com came to life with abundant static, but nothing else.

“Please?”  Keith sighed and sat back.

“Hello?”

the paladin almost yelled and he jumped.  Through the static was the first sound of another voice.

“Hello!  Hello!  Who am i talking to?”

“You called us, who are you?”

Keith, too tired to think much of it, replied, “This is the Red paladin of Voltron.  I have an injured teammate.  I’m looking for a place to land and get help.  What are your coordinates?”

“…is this a joke?”

“What? No!”  Keith almost sobbed, “please, we need-”

“What are you doing in my room?”

Another voice came over the com system. More muffled, but clear even through the static.

“Don’t touch my things.”

“But a voice is coming through your helmet!  I was just answering!”

“What?”

“He say’s he’s a paladin of Voltorb or somethin’ like- OW!!  Don’t snatch!”

“Hello?”  the second voice while the first one yelled that he was going to tell mom.

“Hello?” Ketih answered back, too tired to figure out anything else to say.

“Oh my gosh, Keith!  Are you ok?  Where are you?”

“…I don’t know…how did you…”  Ketih didn’t remember giving out his name, then it finally sunk in, “Lance?  Is that you?”

“Duh!  Are the others with you?”

“Hunk is really hurt,” Keith rubbed his face, trying to get his brain to work, “we’ve been lost for… a long time…can’t find a place to land.”

“Keith, listen, stay put.  I’ll come and get you, ok?”

“but, i can’t stay put, Hunk-”

“Keith so help me, stop moving!  Blue has a further scanner than you do, so i’ll find you faster than you’ll find us.  You also sound like crap.”

“What’s that for?”

“Just stay put, k?”

“fine,” Keith sighed and pulled back on Reds levers.  The absence of movement was making his head spin a little.  

()

Lance turned to Milo who was scowling by the door.  It had been about three weeks since Lance had been back and two days since their parents left on their trip.

“As upset as i am that you went into my room and played with the one object in here that WASN’T a toy, i’m glad you did.”

“You’re leaving?” 

Lance grinned, “Not for long.  I’ll be back by dinner time.  Don’t let Victoria in the kitchen.”

“Is the Red Voltorb guy ok?”  Milo asked watching Lance get changed into his paladin armor, “are you a blue voltorb?”

“Very observant, Milo,” Lance said nodding, “And its Voltron, not Voltorb.”

“Whatever.”

Lance walked out and down the stairs with his helmet tucked under his arm.

“Mary!”

“Yeah?”  She looked up from the couch and frowned at his outfit.

“You’re in charge, Mary, ok?”

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to help a friend.  I’ll be back tonight, promise, k?  I need you to call Dr. Rand and ask him to stand by until i call him later tonight.”

“Ok,” Mary got up and ran to the kitchen.  Victoria narrowed her eyes at him.

“Can i come with you?”

“Not if you want to spend the night in the hospital until mom and dad get back,” Lance said, “I’ll be right back.  I just need to help them.”

“Need to?”

“Need to…and want to.”

“Fine,” she sighed, “I’m going to get the guest bedroom ready.”

Lance grabbed the van keys off the hook by the door.  pulling out his phone he had half of Iversons number punched in before he thought better of it.  

Better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission.

()

Keiths eyes snapped open. Did he fall asleep?  Did he pass out?  How long was he out?  

“Keith! You hear me?”

“…Lance?”

“You need to make sure you keep hold of Hunk,” Lance said positioning himself above the red lion, “I’ve got hold of you, so you need to make sure you don’t lose hunk,”

“Roger…”

Lance grabbed Red and flew as quickly and carefully as possible back to the planetary system they all knew so well.

()

“Oh man…” Lance sighed as Keith stumbled out of his lion, “I hate to see what Hunk looks like.”

Keith just scowled at him and staggered to the Yellow lion.  Lance quickly followed and when they saw hunk, Lance let out a string of curses.  

“Both of you are so grounded,” he said lifting Hunk out of the seat.

Ketih grabbed Hunks other side and Lance sighed in irritation, but didn’t say anything else.

It wasn’t until they had gotten Hunk into the back seat of the van that Keith noticed anything wrong.

“…where are we?”

Lance laughed, “We’re on Earth.  Now get in and put your seat belt on before the Garrison realizes where i’ve parked the lions.”

“Earth?!  how?!”

“Just get in!  Its late and I know Vik is trying to cook something.  Her and Coran could make their own Worst Cooks in the Galaxy tv show.”

Keith climbed into the passenger seat and fiddled with the belt.  It was all so surreal.  Familiar, yet out of place.

“We need to get hunk to a hospital.”

“Gosh Keith, you think?” Lance shook his head, “My family has a doctor on call that will come to the house, so we’ll go there.  The less people know we’re back, the better.”

“…i see…but Hunk is-”

“Keith, i’ve got this, promise. Take a deep breath and relax for once.”

Keith was about to argue, but exhaustion took over and he just sighed.  How had they managed to get all the way back to Earth?

()

“Are they dead?!” Marco cried as Lance and Keith struggled to get Hunk out of the back seat.  

“No,” Lance grunted, “go get Mary.”

“MAAAARRY!” Marco screamed running back inside.

“You’re house?” Keith asked, trying to bring it into focus.

“Yup, hold still until my sister gets here.”

“What-”

“Are they dead?!” Mary shouted running from the front door to the three boys.

“Not yet,” Lance said, “I need you to take Keiths place, Marco, i need you to help Keith up the stairs.”

“I can walk just fine-”

“Dude, have you looked in a mirror?” Lance snapped, “do as i say or so help me i will carry you like a two year old!”

That was the most efficient threat Keith had ever heard.  He snapped his jaw shut and let the younger boy lead him to the house.  When they reached the steps up to the door Keith noticed something was wrong.

“Here you go,” Marco said lifting Keiths right leg and setting it on the step, “you’re going to have to lead with your left until Dr. Rand can look at this gash in your side.”

“Gash?” Looking down he finally noticed that he’d been bleeding the entire time.  Why hadn’t he felt anything?!

“On second though, Marco, get them to the couch.  We’ll let the doc determine weather or not they go upstairs.”

“K,” Marco grinned up at Keith, the same grin Lance wore all the time, “Doc is nice, so no need to worry.”

“..i’m not…?”

Marco lead him in and set him down on the smaller couch while Lance and Mary set Hunk down on the longer one.  

“Get out the emergency tote,” Lance instructed, “I’ll call Dr Rand.”

Mary ran upstairs and Lance wiped out his phone.  

“…Hello?  Dr. Rand? Yes, i know its late, but this is an emergency- No, Vik is ok.  Two friends of mine are injured…heavily.  one is unconscious and they both are bleeding openly.  I can’t bring them in without alerting the Garrison.  I’ll make a call to them, but i would like it if i could keep this on the down low as much as possible…you’re the best, see you in a bit.”

“Here it is!”

Mary nearly fell down the stairs carrying a large clear tote of medical supplies.  Dropping it on the floor between hunk and Keith, the red paladin just stared.

“Why…so much?”

“We’re an accident prone family,” Lance said opening the tote while Marco came in with two re-purposed ice cream buckets of hot water, “Marco, keep helping Keith out with getting his armor off.  the cloth will have grafted.”

“Ew,” Marco made a face, “I hate it when it does that.”

“Where’s Milo?”

“He went over to Philips house to spend the night,” Mary said trying to dab the blood out of hunks hair, “Vik is upstairs.  You might want to go and calm her down.  She got irritated when you left.”

“alright, you got this?” Lance asked and Mary gave him a long-suffering look as her answer.  Lance nodded and ran upstairs.

Victoria sat in the guest room , on the floor, hidden behind the bed.

“I’m back,” Lance said laying width wise on the bed so that he hung a few inches from her face.

“I heard,” she said and grinned.

“I didn’t worry you too bad, did I?”

“You’re going to leave again, arn’t you.”

Lance sighed, “I’ve got to, Shalott-”

“But you just got home!”

“And people still need help,” he countered, “there are people i can help so they’ll be happy and smile…like us.”

“Its dangerous though,” she said looking at his hand.

“So was breaking the mirror,” he said lowering his voice.

“Yeah, but we did that together,” she sniffed, “What if i need you?”

Lance sat up and slid completely to the floor so his sister and him were smooshed together between the wall and bed.

“You’re scared of the evil king?”

She nodded, “I heard when Aunt Janet called mom with the news.  I don’t think mom knows that i heard.”

 “Vik,” Lance held her and kissed her head, “evil can’t pass between worlds.  we escaped the dark lands and we now live in a land of hope and dreams!  Also, I know you know where Paul keeps the gun safe.”

Victoria gave a sheepish grin,  No one was supposed to know.  they all knew Paul had a gun, but he never told any of them where he hid it.  But Vik and Lance knew because they made it their business to know everything.

“Lancelot?”

“Yeah?”

“Sometimes it feels this is also a mirror…and it will shatter easier than the first.”

“But I’m sure you remember what to do with shattered glass?”

Vik chuckled, and together they quoted, “gouge the left eye out.”

“Vik, Once the others are healed and ready to go, we have to leave.  But i’m sure before we do, Hunk can make something where you can contact me no matter what.  I’ll ask him about it, ok?”

She nodded.

“Good, so stop pouting.  It ruins my beautiful face.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Hey Iverson!…Mmm?  Me?!  Nooooo…but i think you should come to my house…alone…yeah.  No,,,,nononono, sorry, i’m sorry, i won’t mouth off ever again, but seriously, alone would be best….I’ll explain everything in person…because you tapped my phone, why else would you be calling me before i had the chance to call you?  I’m not mouthing off, i’m asking a fair question…no, i’m not…i’m…fine, do you like pancakes or waffles-”

Lance let the phone fall to the cushion he was sitting on as he took another bite of dinner.  Keith picked at his plate.

“Iverson will be here in the morning,” he said and Keith shook his head.  He was still trying to get his head around the fact that they were back on earth. He had gauze strapped to his side, and another gauze to the back of his head.  He’d been so focused on Hunk and what needed to be done, he’d forgotten to look for injuries on himself.  Along with a massive head wound, Hunk also had a broken leg.

when the doctor arrived he was almost beside himself.  Lance told him they’d been in a car crash and Keith just agreed.  

“Were you drunk?” Rand asked shining a light in hunks eyes, “who was driving?”

“Hunk was driving,” Keith said slowly looking over at Lance who was miming the answers behind the doc, “and no, we weren’t drunk.  We’d been awake for a long time and…fell asleep at the wheel…”

What a stupid reason!  Keith would never do something like that!  Except that he had twice while flying red, but that was different!

“I see, and you are covering for them?” the doc turned a suspicious eye to Lance who put on an innocent face.

“What’s there to cover?  They’ll get their license revoked and pay a fine, but i saw no need to alert the garrison that there were students to expel…ya know?  I mean, this is their first offence and all.  I’ve already called their parents so they know that they’re ok.”

“Where are their parents?”

“They’re over seas,” Lance sighed, “i barely got a hold of them.  Both their families are super small and their parents should be home in a few days.”

“Does your mother know you’re doing this?”

“Of course,” Lance laughed, “do i look crazy?”

the lies came out so smoothly that Keith actually shivered.  He’d never seen him lie with so much confidence before. Or maybe he had, but he'd been the one lied to...  It was creepy.

“Well,” Rand stood and sighed, looking between Ketih and hunk, “I want this one to come in so i can reset his leg and get a better look at his head.  As for you, “he added looking at Keith, “You are one lucky brat.  Any more blood loss and you would have been in real danger.  I want you in bed rest until i come back.  Move as little as possible and eat lots of iron and vitamin rich foods.  You both lucked out that nothing was infected.”

“thanks doc,” Lance grinned.

“I want to see your sister while i’m here, “he said, “will you come with me?”

“Yes sir,” Lance sighed and followed the doctor up the stairs.

Keith stood and crept to the stair well to listen.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but this is unacceptable,” Rand hissed.

“Please, doc, just trust me on this,” Lance pleaded, “Its not that big of a deal-”

“don’t give me that!  Little ten year old you said the same stupid thing and I will NOT stand by while there might be more-”

“Its not like that, Doc!”  Lance lowered his voice again, “its not like that at all.  Its garrison business and top secret, ok?  that’s why i’m not telling you everything.  I’m going to take Hunk to the Garrison doctors tomorrow, i just needed you to come and make sure they weren’t going to die on me over night.”

“…alright,” Rand huffed, “you swear on blood-honesty that this is the truth this time?”

“On every red blood cell,” Lance confirmed.

“Right, now lets check on Victoria.”

a door opened and Keith heard a female voice answer.

“If you’re going to eavesdrop, i could show you a better way to do it,” Mary said making Keiths heart almost stop.  She stood right behind him with black hair and green.  Marco also stood there with a very Lance like smirk.

“Sorry,” Keith said, feeling the heat rise in his face.

“why?” she asked, “curiosity is normal.  But they wont be up there long so you might want to sit back down.  Between Lance and Doc Rand you wont survive.”

“What do you mean,” Keith asked making his way back to the couch.

“They’ll both have a fit and threaten to tie you to the bed,” Marco said, “I once tried to go to the beach when i had the flu and Lance locked me in my room.”

“Oh…”  he couldn’t decided if that fit with his image of Lance or not.  It did…but then again, it didn’t.  

“You should lie down and get some sleep,” Mary said handing him a blanket, “you really look like a dead fish.”

“Dead fish with a bad haircut,” Marco said, his smirk getting wider, “seriously, you sure you’re not from the past?”

“Stuff it Marco,” Mary snapped, “or i’ll shave you bald before your band concert next month.”

“Harpie,” Marco sneered but squealed and ran away when she took a step toward him.  With a smirk of her own she turned back to Keith.

“Lance must really like you guys, so you better take better care of your selves, cause if we have to comfort him cause you guys died, i’ll raise you all from the dead to kill you all myself.  Now, go to sleep or i put you to sleep."

()

When Lance came back down stairs Mary was reading a book in the arm chair and Keith was fast asleep on the small couch.  he walked over and leaned over the couch just to make sure he was still breathing.

“He fell asleep about five minutes ago,” Mary said snapping her book shut, “i didn’t drug him.”

“Just checking,” Lance grinned at her, “thank you for being nice.”

She shrugged, “I don’t care either way.”

“I’ll be leaving then,” Rand said nodding to Lance, “I’ll have my ringer on, so if anything happens give me a call.”

“Thanks a lot Doc,” Lance waved as he left then turned back to Mary, “time for bed.”

“Its saturday.”

“yeah, and its one in the morning, so scoot.”

“You’re going to stay up with your friends.”

“I’m going to sleep down here and you’re in my seat.”

“I wanna stay down here too.”

“Go to bed, Mary, please?”

“No.”

“I’ll take you to the book store later this week.”

“…fine,” she got up and headed to bed.

()

Keith woke up when the sun hit his face.  but he didn’t open his eyes.  He was so tired he hoped to drift back to sleep.  then the sun left his face and he sensed someone hovering over him.

Squinting, he scowled, “get out of my face, Lance.  You’re freaking me out.  I’m not dead.”

“Well that’s good.”

Keith froze.  When did Lance sound like a girl?  After blinking a few times, he realized Lance looked like a girl.  

“I’m Victoria, not Lance,” She said, “I was born first, and Lance was born thirteen minutes later.”

“…twins?”  

“Yup.”

She grinned and it really was as if Lance had put on a wig and make up.  She may have had a bit of a smaller face, but not much of one.  

“He never said he was a twin.”

“I know,” She flopped down on the arm chair and kicked her slippered feet up on the coffee table.  

“Where is he?” Keith asked looking around.  Now that he was fully awake, he sat up and rubbed his face.  

“Outside watering moms garden,” her grin turned snide, “he doesn’t know i’m talking to you.”

“Issss that a problem?”  

“I just think its fun doing stuff behind peoples back, don’t you?”

“…no…not really.”

“Mmm, boring,” she sighed and looked out the window, “he should be back in a minute.  I can make you breakfast!”

“no, no thank you, i’m not-”

but she was already up and heading to the kitchen.  She whistled and hummed as pots and pans banged together.  Keith stood up as Mary came down stairs.  She glared at Keith and the boy slowly sat back down.

“Lance, i want blueberries in mine,” Mary called into the kitchen, but Victoria answered.

“I’m making chocolate chip!”

“NO!” Mary went from almost Gothic apathy to stark panic.  She leaped over the coffee table like a pro and raced into the kitchen.

“Drop the pan Vik!”

“Its fine, Mary, I’ll make breakfast!”

“No, you wont!  those guys are sick enough as it is without you finishing the job!”

“Rude!  I don’t remember raising such a disrespectful brat.”

“Stop saying you raised me, that’s so stupid- AND STOP ADDING SALT TO THE INSTANT BATTER!”

“Oops,” came the light hearted reply, “i thought it was the sugar!”

“You don’t add that either!  Its instant!  you add water or milk and that’s it!”

Vik let out a loud laugh.  Mary continued to yell and vik continued to laugh and make jokes when Lance came inside.  

The first thing Lance noticed was Keith bent double on the couch, shaking.  Worried he moved forward and was about to ask what was wrong when he noticed he was laughing.

“Why are you adding Dr. Pepper to the batter?!”  Came Mary’s hysterics.

“You added it to the cake batter last week,” vik said casually.  

“That’s because it was soda cake!  Pancakes are not cake!”

“Then why does it have cake in the title?!”

“Oh boy,” Lance sighed and chuckled himself.  Keith looked up with watery eyes.

“…i think i know why…”  then he simply bent over and let it all out.  Laughing non stop.  Lance sighed and shrugged.

“You think, huh?  you feeling any better today?”

“I hurt like i’ve been run over, but…” he couldn’t stop laughing, “Why didn’t you say you had a twin!  You guys are the same person its so funny!”

“Thanks,” Lance rolled his eyes and stood back up, “Vik!  When I come in you better not have anything in your hands!”

“Awwww, but I wanted to make breakfast for your friends!”  

“How about i let you help me make desert later on today?”

“Later?”

“I need to get Hunk to the hospital, so i’ll be gone today, but-”

“NO!”

“Vik-”

The sister stormed out of the kitchen and hovered over Hunks still frame.  Her face was furious as she reached down and began to shake him.

“Wake up!  You’re fine!”

“VIK!” Lance was there in seconds, much faster than Keith had time to react.  He grabbed her waist and pulled her back. She let her self be pulled, but she still glared at Hunk.

“He’ll be fine!”

“Vik, He is hurt,” Lance said turning her around and making sure they were face to face, “He will not be fine unless i can get him some help.  Please Vik?  Please stay calm?”

“…bring me back a lollipop?”

“A green one,” Lance nodded and vik smiled again as if her temper tantrum hadn’t just happened.

Keith took back what he’d originally thought.  This chick and Lance were very different.  then Victoria turned her gaze on Keith and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“If anything happens to my Lancelot, i’ll kill every-”

“And now is the time for you to go back upstairs,” Lance said hurriedly, but Keith snorted again.

“Lancelo-”

“ONLY I CAN CALL HIM THAT!” Her face changing again, “YOU SHUT UP!”

“Vik, if you don’t go back up stairs right now, you don’t get a story tonight OR a lollipop!” Lance snapped.  Victorias eyes widened as she visibly shrunk.  

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

“Thank you,” Lance said and kissed her head, “Mary will bring you breakfast.”

“…and medicine…”

“Yes, and your medicine.”

“Will you come back soon?”

“of course and then we can go for a walk.”

“ok,” she slowly climbed the stairs and Lance didn’t move until he heard the door shut.  When he did it was to go give Mary the Garrisons hospital number.

Keith kept his head down, and he was no longer laughing.  


	6. Chapter 6

“I’m sorry.”

“about What?”

they sat in the back of Iversons truck.  He’d come to pick them up and take them to the Garrison hospital.  hunk was layed out on their laps and Keith, after that morning fiasco, didn’t know what to say.

“I didn’t know your sister was sick,” he said.  Lance laughed.

"She’s not sick,” he said, “when we were kids we got into a little accident and hit our heads really hard.  she was in front so she received most of the damage.  She’s still as smart as they come, but her behavior is a little…spazzy.  This morning wasn’t that bad.”

“What would be considered ‘bad’?” Keith asked but wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“You know the arch way leading to the kitchen?”

“Yeah…”

“There used to be a door there. then i got accepted into the garrison and she realized i’d be gone for most of the year.”

“She really likes her brother, huh," keith thought about his own attachment to Shiro and what he'd do for the man.

“…yeah, let’s go with that,” Lance grinned.

“Still can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were a twin!”

“Topic never came up,”

“Neither did your face cream, but you talked non-stop about that!”

“That was to distract everyone from the crap heap we’d just gotten into.  Ya know, lighten the mood a little.”

Keith clicked his tongue and shook his head.  This was a whole new side of the goofball they’d all come to know.  It was like a curve ball to the face!  But Keith had one more question that he just had to get answered.

“why Lancelot,” he asked and couldn’t help the snort afterwards.  He covered his mouth, but he honestly couldn’t help it.

“that’s a secret,” Lance said shrugging, “and its true that only she can call me that, k?  My mom doesn’t even call me that.”

“So what, do you like, have a nickname for her?”

Lance shrugged again, “yeah.  I call her Shalott.”

“What’s with the Arthurian theme?”

Lance clicked his tongue, “is this an interrogation?  You mind backing off just a bit?  I didn’t jump down your throat when we realized about your heritage.”  

“I’m not jumping down-”

the truck came to a halt and Lance stood to open the tailgate.  Men rushed out to gather Hunk and take him in.  Two stayed behind to look Keith over.

When Keith looked around, he didn’t see Lance anywhere.

()

“I can’t locate them anywhere,” Allura stamped her foot.

“You can’t locate anything with only twenty minutes of sleep,” Shiro said, “you need to go and get some rest. I’m sure they’re fine.  They’re resourceful and they have their lions, right?”

“But its been so long!  Surly we should have found SOMETHING!”

“And we will, the moment you get some rest so you can actually function properly, we’ll find something.”

It was a sad and rather pathetic argument, but he was going to push it until she complied.  So Allura had no choice than to give in.

When she had completely left the room, Shiro looked back at the star map.  

Just where did they go?

“Shiro?”

“Yeah, what do you need Pidge?”

Pidges bottom lip trembled slightly as she enlarged a section of the map.  It was the location where they had fought their latest ro-beast.  the thing that had caused them to become separated in the first place.  

“I was doing some…I was looking into what could have happened to separate us like this…and i found this.”

“…I don’t see anything pidge,” Shiro said.

“…that’s because you’re not supposed to.  Black holes are theoretical because we only see the effect they have on the things around them.  All the black holes you see in pictures are just an artists interpretation. There is no way of knowing if or when one is near until its too late.”

“You think they were sucked in?”

She shook her head and brought up another screen, “I simulated our fight, and watch.”

Pidge flew off and the robeast took that moment to fire with everything it had.  Lance broke off and flew in the opposite direction, hitting the edge of where Pidge had pointed out the black distortion.  It was like things were suddenly on fast forward as he was slung around and shot out further into space.  The same thing happened to Hunk and Keith’s lions.  

“The gravity of the black hole acted more as a catalyst.  the lions are strong and they already had enough momentum to keep them going in one direction for a while, but the force of the black hole would have not only damaged the lions, but changed their trajectory to stars know where!”  

“Yes, but with this, we now have a general direction of where to search,” shiro beamed at her, “way to go Pidge!”

()

“While the other two are getting looked at, do you mind telling us where you found them?”

“Yeah, I do mind,” Lance said and Iversons face twitched.

“You were open with information last time.”

“Last time i knew everyone in the room,” Lance said glancing over at a man sitting in the corner.  He was dark skinned in an equally dark suit.  Lance was a sucker for dramatic effect, but he still didn’t like not knowing who he was talking in front of.

“This is Professor Schmit.  He’s been called in to help with the garrison preparations in case of an impending attack.”

“I am here to observe and only ask questions to clarify,” Schmit said, not moving from his seat.  Lance rolled his eyes.  He may not know the difference between a green wire and a red wire, but he knew that “clarifying” questions was a big enough hole to jump through.  

“Keith and Hunk were stranded out in space.  They got close enough to where my com unit in my helmet picked up their signal.  Realizing i didn’t really know Earths coordinates and hearing that Hunk was hurt, i told them to stay put and got them myself.”

“How?”

“I went back to my lion, got in, scratched this itch behind my ear-”

“Mcclain!”

“Look, they’re here, they’re hurt.  We got separated after a fight with a giant monster!  Shiro and the others are probably worried sick about us and-”

“Excuse me,” Schmit cut in and Lance threw up his hands, “but where did you land your lion?”

“Where i landed it last time,” Lance said.

“Which was where?”

“Where Alfor parked it the time before that,” Lance said innocently.

“…Mcclain…”  Iverson sighed.  He was used to the boys antics and knew how to ask the pointed questions, but this government agent wouldn’t.  

“Who is Alfor.”

“the former King of Kingdom Come,” Lance replied and started to wax eloquent, “for he was a brave and daring man of wisdom.  He cared for his friends and his people, but alas that-”

“Lance Mcclain,” Schmit asked standing up, “What are you trying to hide?  Do you think you are unsafe here?”

Lance laughed.

“You were the one that said we needed to prep ourslves,” Iverson added, “we are taking you seriously.”

“then take me seriously when i say that those are our lions and where i parked them, you don’t need to know,” Lance said, “They won’t let you near them anyway.”

“’They’ meaning…”

“The lions,” Lance said, “the lions only let us pilot them.”

“You need a special code?”

“No,” Lance said mimicking the soft way Schmit talked with, “you need a bond with it.”

“What do you mean by ‘bond’.”

“I feel like Alice,” Lance sighed, “All i’m missing are mushrooms and a smoking caterpillar.”

“Then i suggest you be more specific, cadet,” Schmit replied evenly, “then i won’t have to ask my clarifying questions.”

Lance looked over at Iverson who had both eyes shut and his lips pursed in a way that made Lance very happy he wasn’t Schmit.  Iverson was about to blow.

Lance chose his next words carefully.  Iverson had all but told him that this was an interrogation, not a ‘talk’.  

“What are you trying to hide, Mr. Schmit?  So you feel scared because I’m a child?  think you can do what i’ve been doing better?”  

Iverson covered his face with his hands.  Schmits eyes narrowed.

“Because i’m sure a TON of people can do better than me,” Lance continued, “Because everyone is so much more capable than i am.  But you see.  Blue, my lion, chose me.  She and I like each other.  We work well together.  Red and Keith?  Yelllow and Hunk?  they really get along well. Like peas in a pod!  Green and Pidge?  Blackie and Shiro? There’s no way you can separate them, ever.  These lions do not care about regulations, education levels, or your opinion.  Those are our lions, Blue is MY lion!  If I don’t want to tell you where she is, then i don’t have to!”

“You are saying that these lions are ships…and alive?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“I don’t believe what i don’t see,” Schmit replied, “especially from an unreliable source.”

“You don’t go to church, do you,” Lance asked, “See, my mom is always dragging me to mass.  I always hated it, but then i meet people like you and it really makes me thankful that my mom taught me faith.”

“You’re attitue-”

Schmit had leaned over the table, but in doing so had crossed a line.  Iverson didn’t like people in his space, and he REALLY didn’t like people questioning his cadets.  He may not have had a choice in who the government had sent, but he wasn’t about to let his own authority be over shadowed.

He raised an arm and pushed Schmit back.  

“Let the boy finish his initial report,” Iverson tried to sound calm, but it came out as more of a growl.  

“There’s really not that much,” Lance said, “I went out and grabbed them.  I brought them back to my house since we have a doctor on call.  I wanted to get grounded before i called you, Iverson, Sir, and make sure my facts were straight.”

“Are they straight?”

“No, but once Hunk wakes up we’ll be able to get some actual information and, Sir, if you could keep black slender man over there away from my teammate?  Hunk doesn’t respond well to pressure and strangers.”

“What?  Now look here-”

“Professor Schmit will not be allowed in the hospital area,” Iverson said, “understood?”

“Understood Sir,” Lance grinned, “If I talk to you alone i’ll be more than happy to tell you, Sir, and only you.  I'm a little superstitious and only voodoo witches wear that much black.”

Schmit pounded the table but Iverson answered first,

“Deal.” He said, “Good bye Schmit.”

“Instructor Iverson, this child can not-”

“I see no child in this room, Professor,” Iverson said, “I see a soldier that has returned from an unlisted assignment and you, i’m sure, do not the level of clearance allotted to this information since it is no longer a social issue, but a military one.”

“Who says this is military?!”

“I am a paladin in a war against enemy forces,” Lance said with a shrug, “an empire that enjoys leaching the life force of people and planets alike.  So no, i don’t think this has anything to do with your *cough* educational *cough* department.”

Schmit looked from one to the other.  he had done his research and had thought that he would have an ally in Iverson.  All accounts said he’d not been pleased with this particular child.

“I see,” Schmit said straightening his tie, “You will hear from your superiors before the day is out, Iverson.”

“I’m sure,’ Iverson said waving his hand, “And you will hear from yours.  I know how the game is played.”

When Schmit left the room Lance beamed at his old instructor.  But before he could say anything Iverson slapped the table, making him jump.

“Don’t get used to that, Cadet,” he snapped, “now that the stick is out of my back, I can now lay out my own questions and no, this is not recorded and everything you tell me will not leave this room; so i want all the details …what did you call him…black slender man, asked, but more, k?.”

“Yes Sir,” Lance saluted.


	7. Chapter 7

Hunk didn’t feel good.  

Something smelled weird and his head hurt a lot.  He could tell he was lying down, so why did it also feel as though everything was spinning. But that wasn’t all; there was a really annoying beeping sound  somewhere to his left.  

Really annoying.

Cautiously opening his eyes he then saw that he wasn’t alone.  Lance lay on one side of him and looking to the other, saw keith.  

Hunk took this moment to feel good that they were there and not arguing.  

Then it hit Hunk that he was in a hospital.  

An Earth hospital.

With Earth tech beeping away next to his bed.

He tried to sit up, but his body fell back and he let out an involuntary cry.  What was wrong with him?

Lance and Keith were up in a second.

“Hunk!”

“About time!”

“When did you get back?” Keith asked Lance.

“A little while ago,” Lance shrugged, “I had to go back home real fast, but i brought you some of my little sisters muffins,” Lance said grinning at Hunk.  

“I’m always up for muffins,” Hunk said, but refused to be denied information, “tell me everything…i’ll munch and listen.”

Keith started out telling him about their journey through the void and how they had contacted Lance.  Lance took his turn to tell his story and how he’d gotten them back to Earth.

“That’s insane,” Hunk said through his muffin, “have we contacted the castle yet?”

“Waiting for you big guy,” Lance shrugged, “you’re the only one that knows enough advanced tech to get Earth radios to go that far.  Iverson is putting together a small team you can be the head of and show them how its all done.”

“But first, you have to get better,” Keith said and Lance laughed.

“Who knew Keith had such a mother hen side?”

Keith just scowled at him.

“Anyway, I’ll give you the bad news now, you ready?” Lance asked and Hunk had to force the food down before he choked on it.

“Let him wake up first,” Keith snapped.

“Bad news should be given like you’re taking off a bandaid, a moments notice then you count to three.  Then you rip it off at two.”

“But-”

“You’re family is going to come to visit you, but you can’t actually go to your home,” Lance said quickly.

“…what?”

Hunk blinked trying to figure out what was just said.

“You have two choices,” Lance continued, “you can stay in this secure facility, or you can come to my house…that’s it.”

“Why do you get to go home, but not me?”

Lance bit his bottom lip.  He had known this question would come, but he still hadn’t come up with an answer that would satisfy both him and Hunk.

“My house…has been secured,” he said slowly, “There’s a scary government official that’s trying to trap us into whatever agenda he has, and he’s not allowed in the garrison secured facilities or my home resident.”

“Why not my home?”

“…well…because my house is-”

“We got it, its secured,” Keith said, “why can’t we secure Hunks house a well?”

“Iverson is talking to your parents about the paperwork for it, but its going to take a while,” Lance said, “it takes a few years.”

“Years?”

“I thought you said you’d only been here less than a month.”

“Yeah,” Lance shrugged, “so that’s the bad news, but the good news is that after Iverson is done talking to them, you get to see your parents in a bit!”

“You-”

“I’ve got to call my sister,” Lance said quickly and he left the room.

“…Keith?”

“Yeah?”

“What just happened?”

“I have no idea.”

()

“There’s like…nothing here,” Allura whispered.  She wasn’t used to there being nothing.  Normally there would at least be SOMETHING on the radar or at least her map!  But it was just a whole lot of NOTHING!

“Creepy,” Coran agreed, “Not natural.”

“Still this is where they were…slung-shot…sling-shotted?”  Shiro was latched onto this optimistic hope, and the others let him be optimistic.  Pidge let Shiros hope effect her, even though her initial view was as dark and Alluras and Corans.  

At this point she didn’t care what it was, so long as they found something that pointed to them.

()

When Hunks parents came into the room, Keith backed off and left as quietly as possible.  Lance was down the hall on his phone.

“…i see…ok, then, i’ll be home in a bit.  See if you can’t get things ready.  ….sure, its on my shelf, get it after Vik wakes up.  yup, love you too, bye.”

“Why did you have to tell him right then?”

Lance turned around to find an angry Keith, arms folded and foot tapping on the floor.

“Like i said,” Lance shrugged, “bad news first and then everything doesn’t look so bad afterwards.”

“Still, you could have given him a better explanation.  What are you hiding?”

“Why is everyone so interested in what i’m hiding?!”

“Because, Lance, no one ever pegged you for a liar until now!” Keith snapped, “You’ve always been annoying as Hell, but no one ever thought you were a liar!”

 “Wow, Keith, tell me how you really feel,” Lance folded his arms as well.

“why can’t Hunk go home?”

“Its not safe.”

“And your wild house hold is?!”

“yes.”

“why!?”

“None of your business!”

“It is our business because it means Hunk can’t go home and we’re supposed to be a team!  Teams don’t keep secrets that affect the other team members!”

“I dare you to say that five times fast.”

“LANCE!”

“Quiznaking Hell, Keith,” Lance groaned, “look, you think i don’t feel bad about it?  You think i knew you guys were going to end up here in this state so i PLANNED this?!  Sorry if i can’t accurately predict the future!”

Keith glared, “i told you all a lot of embarrassing things about myself…because i didn’t want anyone to be hurt because of me.  If you can’t even tell Hunk why he can’t go home, but you can, then you really are the most selfish person i know.”

“It has nothing to do with what’s going on!” Lance stressed as Keith turned around to walk away, “it really is none of your business!  I’ve even told all of you more than-”

But Keith was already turning the corner down the hall.  Lance rolled his eyes.  He really had told them more than he’d wanted to.  He’d shown them all more than he’d wanted to.  He didn’t have to tell keith about his sister, but he had!  Wasn’t that enough?!

()

“You just stay here and get better,” Hunks mother set the small basket of snacks on his nightstand, “we’ll visit you every day no matter where you choose to stay.”

“Your friend invited us to stay at his house if you choose to stay there,” Hunks father added, “so after you’re feeling better we can all stay over there if you like.”

Hunk laughed,  He shoulda known better than to doubt Lance.


	8. Chapter 8

“Once upon a time King Arthur took a selective group of knights to determine a threat in a far off land.  The castle they entered was deserted yet still not a speck of dust could be found anywhere.

“An enchanted castle?”

“You bet, you see even the lights would turn on as they moved further into the building.  Leading them to where a sleeping princess and her personal attendant waited.  

They gathered in a room, the floors and cold as the blue lights that danced along the walls.  Then, a pillar of light shone and out of this light fell a slender, white haired maiden. Lancelot, ever quick on his feet, reached out to catch her.  Cradling her somewhat limp body, she gazed into his face as he regained her balance.their faces inches apart, it would have been so simple to just lean in for a kiss…

but then she put Lancelot in a head lock and demanded to know why a bunch of strangers were in her castle.”

Victoria laughed loudly.  Lance grinned and continued.

“It turns out that the Lady Guinevere is more than capable of taking care of herself.  Her attendant also fell out of a similar pillar of light.  His name was Bors de Ganis.  Stalwart and a walking mouth of information, Bors is.  He and Lancelot hit it off fairly well.  And then the Lady Guinevere informed the knights that they were to help finish what her father had failed to finish himself.  That is to defeat the evil kingdom that uses dark magic to suck the life out of everyone and everything.”

“Lancelot got a new sir-coat?”

“Is my Lady Shalott jealous?”  

“Lancelot is my knight and was basically shanghaied into a foreign legion, so yeah, i’m a little…miffed.”

Lance shook his head.  Keith and Hunk were still at the garrison secured facilities and Lance came home to make sure they wouldn’t have to repaint the living room…again. 

“I’m going back, Shalott, because i want to help.  Yeah i missed you and worried about you all the time, but the code says to not leave those in trouble.  And there are a lot of people still in trouble.”

Victoria scowled and held her breath.  When Lance tried to comfort her she pulled away and turned to face the wall.  Lance rolled his eyes and launched himself onto the bed, squishing his sister.

“Get off!”

“Common’ Shalott!  You didn’t think i’d stay behind you my whole life…did you?”

She tilted her head so he could see her glare, “I don’t remember giving you permission to take the lead.”

“Gosh, those thirteen minutes really go to your head sometimes.”

“Oh yeah?” She wrapped her arm around his neck.  He flailed and she used her other hand to tickle him.

“Cheater!  Stooop!”

She pulled him around hugging his head.  

“Can i tell you a secret?”

“I love secrets.”

Victoria hugged him tighter and whispered, “I thought i saw the evil warlock yesterday.”

Tilting his head out of her grasp he answered, “Shalott, we changed our names three times and that was before mom met Paul.  And then when Paul found out about it all, he got this address and almost all our documents sealed.  Even if the warlock followed us this far, which i highly doubt he could, there is no way he’d know which house was ours.”

“what if he followed you when you left?  or when we went for that walk?  then he’d know.”

Lance hadn’t thought of that, “Would you feel better if I locked all the windows and doors before going to bed and even during the day?”

“…don’t we already do that?”

“Yes, we do.”

“Lancelot?”

“Yes?”

“What am i supposed to do if i can’t protect you?  don’t lie to me.  I saw the scar on your back.”

“…ah…you see, Lancelot, very smart…as well as handsom- look, Shalott i can’t breathe!”

“Sorry,” She let go and Lance sat up gasping,

“As i was saying,” Lance continued leaning back on the opposite side of the bed, “Lancelot noticed something was wrong and lept to save Bors from severe injury.”

“Lancelot was an idiot.”

“Lancelot learned from the best.”

“Oh, so NOW we’re pointing fingers?”

“If the mirror reflects.”

“Broken mirrors don’t reflect, idiot.”

“Do you see me, Shalott?”

“I don’t know, Lancelot, its been a while.”

“Then get a good look,” Lance leaned forward and gave his brightest smile.

Victoria forced the corners of her mouth down.  she was angry and didn’t want to play.  Lance didn’t move, he continued to mime her facial expressions with the only difference being the fact that he was smiling. 

Finally she broke and mirrored his smile.  Leaning forward they rested their foreheads together and then fell into a fit of giggles.  

()

The hospital room was dark and Keith sat by the window.  

“So you’re happy with how everything is?”

“Yup,” Hunk sighed, “his sister makes great muffins.”

Keith rolled his eyes, “That can’t be everything.”

“Keith, listen,” Hunk reached over and tried to pat his shoulder…but he was too far away, “When i first met Lance he was weird…and that’s coming from me.  He does things at his own pace and not all of it is out in the open.  In fact, the more he talks, the more he’s really not saying anything.”

“You lost me.”

“I'm on morphine…”

“that would explain the slurring.”

“Mmm, but its not putting me to sleep…i’ve slept a lot…”

“I slept a lot today too…”

“….you ok?”

Keith picked at the cushion.  Nothing was sitting right with him.

“we need to get in contact with Shiro and Coran….anyone, really.  If we could get hold of anyone in the rebel force…or even the Blades, we can-”

“Keeeeeeith,” Hunk whined, “we know and we will.  The moment I can think again, i’m going to get to work and everything is going to be fine.  This is a good thing that we came back.  This way we can prep Earth to deal with the Galra.”

“….its going to take a long time,” Keith muttered.

“So you best go and make yourself at home in Milos room…or was it Marcos?”

()

In the following weeks Hunk got better and Keith got quieter.  

Hunk was more than happy to stay at Lances house and travel to the garrison every morning.  Sometimes he stayed the night and worked on the radio project with his small team of about five.  Every so often a sixth person would join, but all they did was watch.  Their efforts were coming along smoothly.

Hunks parents spent the weekends at Lances house in the spare bedroom.  When Lances parents came back from their vacation it took a fair bit of toast to explain the whole story.  By the end, Paul was laughing and his mom had her face in her hands.  She really didn’t like surprises especially when she couldn’t be here to inspect the level of cleanliness before guests arrived.

“Everything is fine, mom,” Lance reassured her, “Hunk is making real progress.”

“I wish you would tell us what he’s making progress on,” Paul stipulated at dinner one evening, “or what’s going to happen when he’s done.”

“We’re going to be leaving,” Keith said from across the table, earning a glare form Lance, “Once hunk is done, we will be leaving.”

Paul turned to Lance, “oh?”

“I told you i had stuff to do,” Lance shrugged and concentrated on his plate, “its all hush-hush, but its really important.”

“Dangerous?” 

“Only when Keith opens his mouth,” Lance sneered and Keith rolled his eyes.  

“I’m not the one what causes us to fall over all the time,” Keith hissed.

“Well you…you…che,” Lance went back to his food, “You just suck.”

“real smooth.”

SMACK

Lance stared at the mashed potatoes sliding down Keiths face.

Keith blinked at the girl-Lance sitting next to the original.  She was sneering and had a crazy glint in her eyes that made Keith very uncomfortable.  

“Vik,” Lance sighed, “I can defend myself.”

“I don’t care,” she shrugged.

“I just washed the table cloth,” Mrs. Mcclain said with a warning look that only Mary looked to have inherited, “and attacking guests is not allowed.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and stood up.  She grabbed a wash cloth and handed it over to Keith.

“I’m…so sorry,” she said while Marco and Milo giggled.

“Don’t encourage her,” Mary nudged them which only caused them to giggle harder.  

Keith cleaned his face and tried to keep his temper in check.  Did this girl not ever get reprimanded?  Does getting hit in the head automatically excuse you from bad behavior?

Milo, who was sitting next to Keith, sighed heavily and tugged keith sleeve.  Reaching over Keiths plate he took his spoon, scooped up a spoonful of corn and put it in Keiths hand.  Then he gestured to the other side of the table.

Keith observed this little person.  The only child in the household to have his fathers red hair.

“I don’t think-”

“Do it,” Victoria sneered, flicking a piece of corn across the table.  the mother rolled her eyes and threw up her hands.  Paul watched as though it were an interesting tv show.

Keith looked at Lance who had his head completely bowed and his shoulders shaking.

So keith did it.

like shrapnel, the corn flew in every direction.  In seconds a hail storm of corn came flying back.  It went on for a few seconds but it was Paul who stopped it.

“Ok kids, his initiation is over,” he grinned at Keith, “welcome to the family.  Now all six of you can clean up.”

 

 

()

Hunk flicked the wired sticking out of his prototype.  

He was stuck.

They were so close!  So close to figuring out how to make their own advanced versions of Altean tech!  They didn’t have crystals, or Corans special “fixit juice”.  Hunk had to figure everything out from scratch and try to explain Altean terms in Earth terms…

Hunk let his head fall to the table and babbled to himself.  His specialized team stood by and waited for instructions.  When their mentor got like this, they learned to not touch anything.  


	9. Chapter 9

“Keith, can you grab me the Fluxim?”

Keith reached over and picked up a tool Hunk had stolen from the castle and had found in his lion.  It had taken weeks to get back to their lions without being noticed.  It took all of two days for Hunk to demand Keith come and help since his team had no idea what the tools were called, what they did, or why they were important.  So until they learned, Hunk needed someone to back him up.

“Hows your leg?”

“Sore, but can get around easily now,” Hunk said sticking his head back under the table, “How’s home life?”

“…not sure…”

“talk.”

“….the younger kids are fine, i guess.  I can tell when they’re fooling around and i’m starting to get a hold on how to react to it.”

“Aaaaaand the twin?”

“If I hadn’t stared evil in the face on the other side of the galaxy, i’d say she was evil.”

Hunk laughed.

“Not funny, Hunk,” Keith sighed, “she doesn’t talk to me even when i have to ask her for stuff.  She smiles when people are looking, but the moment Lance or his parents look away she either glares at me, or she gives me this crazy look and draws her finger across her throat.”

“What the Quiznak did you do?!”

“I don’t know!  But she freaks me out!”

“Have you talked to Lace about it?”

“of course not,” Keith snorted, “after the fight we had…not to mention he’s insanely protective of all of them.”

“Well, he did grow up with a single mom,” Hunk said holding out his hand again, “screwdriver.”

Keith handed him the tool, “Paul isn’t his dad?”

“Keith,” Hunk actually stopped what he was doing and sat up, “please tell me you noticed that they look nothing alike.”

“Well…”

“And that Mary is almost ten years younger than him.  Ten years is a pretty big gap for a Catholic family.”  

“Ok, i didn’t think about that.”

“When i first met Lance, he was weird,” Hunk shrugged.

“You said that already…you were on morphine.”

“Oh…don’t remember, but its true.  He didn’t show a lot of emotion.”

Keith actually laughed, “Lance is the most emotional person i know, and i grew up with Shiro who cries during those puppy shelter commercials!”

“Not when i first met him,” Hunk said going back to work, “i like to think i had some influence in cracking that fake smile of his-”

“LUNCH TIME!”

Lance’s voice rang in the large room as he dragged two coolers behind him.  The team looked at Hunk who nodded and they gratefully set down their tools.

“Got turkey and ham sandwichs today!” Lance grinned, “also got coke and rootbeer.  For sides we have carrots and chips.  For dessert we have cookies…full disclosure, i did turn my back for a second, so you might want to take a tentative bite first in case Victoria slipped anything in there.”

By then even the garrison team was acquainted with this ‘Victoria’ and her inedible creations from hell.  It took them a long time before one of them was brave enough to nibble the cookies.  Finding it palatable, he gave the others a thumbs up.

“So how is everything coming along?”

“Eager to leave?” hunk asked and Lance shrugged.

“Just wanting to know a time line so i can prep Vik.  The more heads up she can have, the better she’ll be able to be calm about it.”

“Hear Vik doesn’t like Keith at all,” Hunk said and Keith hit him.  Lance laughed.

“She’s fine with Keith,” Lance said, “Honest.  She’s just messing with him.”

“I’m right here you know,” Keith said.

“Yeah, i know,” Lance grinned, “I told you that shes really smart.  Not Pidge and Hunk smart, but people smart.  She can pinpoint an insecure and uncomfortable person across a crowded room.  You sitting at the dinner table like a statue was just asking her to mess with you.”

“Oh and it had nothing to do with my making fun of you?”

“Ah, that made her change from the corn to the potatoes, “Lance nodded, “her displeasure was in the fact that you had to make the effort to clean yourself off.  and the fact that Milo had to show you what to do just further begged her to tease you.”

“So, what, i should tease back?”

“Mmmm, depends.  how far are you willing to go?”

“What do you mean?”  Keith didn’t like where this conversation was going.

“If she takes a swing at you and gets in your face and starts to scream at you, what do you do?”

“…i don’t do anything?”

“Wrong.”

“….i’m supposed to hit her back?!”

“Wrong again,” Lance sighed, “She’s weak, and she knows it, so she’ll hit you with all her might and yell as loudly as she can….know what, i’ll show you tonight.  Its more fun that way.”

“I wanna see,” hunk said popping a chip in his mouth.  

“Well, I’ve got to go, so bring back the coolers when you come home, k?”

“OK,  See ya later,” Hunk waved as Lance left.

“I’ll never learn,” Keith sighed, “this is hurting my head.”

“Want me to mess you up more?”  Hunk asked.  He was no longer smiling and, for the first time in a while, looked really irritated.

“Might as well,” Keith said leaning back.

“That’s what Lance looks and acts like when he’s scared,” Hunk said, “but he doesn’t wanna talk about it.”

()

Lance took a deep breath before leaving the garrison building.  There was the dark blue car that had followed him from Main Street to the Garrison. Casually walking into a store he watched as the car stopped as well.

His sister and moms worries were getting to him.  This was nothing.  He should just walk up to the car and call out Schmit for his bull.  That’s the only person he could think of that would benefit from following him.  

Or he could talk to Iverson tomorrow.

Walking up to the store clerk he leaned over the counter.

“Look, dude,” Lance said to the poor thin sap, “i got a crazy ex outside following me around.  Think you could help me sneak out the back?”

“How cray?” he asked, bored.

“she’s following me around in a car,” Lance said, wondering how much the guy needed to be convinced, “she’s insane.  She’s even trying to attack my friends. Please help me out?”

He rolled his eyes, “fine, but i had a girl once that put sugar in my gas tank.  No one is as crazy as someone who would do that to a perfectly innocent car.”

Lance paused and then nodded, “I’ll lock the gas cap, thanks for the heads up.”

Sneaking out the back was only the first step.  He needed to be on the other side of the street.  Hiding out on this side of the street until dark seemed to be his only option.

()

“Where is he?” 

Keith blinked.  He’d barely opened the door to see Victoria standing right in front of the opening.

“Answer or stay out,” she snapped.

“Vik, stand back and let them in,” Paul pulled her away from the door and mussed her hair.

the two paladins walked in and looked around.  Everyone was in the living room and the Tv had a crime show on.  The two younger boys were very into it.

“What’s going on?

“Lance isnt back yet,” Paul said looking over at his wife who looked clam, but the blanket on her lap was being twisted into oblivion.

“He left before us,” Hunk said, “maybe he stopped to get something?”

It was overly optimistic and would have made the situation much worse if Lance hadn’t chosen that moment to walk in.

“Hey all!”

Keith nearly jumped a foot in the air and even Hunk leaned on the arm chair for support.

“Sorry i’m late,” Lance laughed, “was helping a neighbor out with some yard work and lost track of the time!”

Victoria shoved everyone out of the way and grabbed Lance in a bare hug.  

“Don’t go through the mirror,” she said, close to tears but Lance laughed,

“Don’t go changing the story on me Shalott,” he patted her head, “there is no mirror to climb through, remember?”

She nodded.

“Next time give us a call,” his mom said, still looking a the tv, but now the blanket was laying flat on her lap.

“Will do,” he grinned and turned to his two teammates, “so…did i scare you?”

()

“You going to tell me a boring story again tonight?” Victoria asked leaning back against her pillows, “I slept a lot today, so its got to be a long one.”

“Mmm,” Lance tried to think of a story he could tell with all the mediphors he’d set in place still intact, “How about i tell the story of the Haunted Castle?  The day that the late Kings magic that still lingered in the castle suddenly went haywire and tried to kill all the knights.”

“…is it really that scary?”

“Aw, you chicken?”

“No,” she scowled, but her voice had gone up an octave.  Lance laughed and she hit him with the pillow.  

“This story has Gawaine running away from the headless knight, Lamorak and Bedevier being attacked by Goo monsters and levitating, and Lancelot being imprisoned with doom timed behind him.”

“This has a happy ending?”

“…not really,” Lance said apologetically, “its a sad ending, but no one is really badly hurt and no one dies.”

“Mmmmm….i don’t want that one.”

“I could stop it before i get to the sad part.”

“then the story is incomplete.”

“Is not every story incomplete?”

“GYEEEEEhhhh!” Victoria leaned over the bed and made retching noises.  

“….are you done?”

“….Bleeeeehhhhhh…”

He grabbed her face and pushed it back, her barfing noises turning into giggles.  He rubbed his hand against her face.  

“Ow!  why are you doing that?”

“Why are you being a jerk?  I’m trying to be nice, and you’re being very rude.”

“Don’t patronize me baby!”

“I’ll do whatever i want to rude and unruly little girls!”

“LANCE IS A BABY!  BABY!”

She leaned over and shoved him.  Lance launched himself backwards and cried out dramatically.  Lying on his back, holding the place he had shove him, he moaned and acted out the most dramatic death scene.  Shakespeare would have been proud.

“We’re not five anymore, that wont work,” she rolled her eyes and he continued to moan.

“..Lance?”  he moaned louder, “Ok, ok, i’m sorry.  I’ll listen to whatever story you have, promise.”

Lance grinned and turned to the door, “and that’s how you deal with Vik.”

Victoria turned to the opening sharply.  Hunk and Keith stuck they heads in around the frame.  Hunk gave an apologetic wave.

The temper tantrum that ensued was one Lance told them was pretty epic.  Sitting out in the hall while she calmed down inside Lance was having a hard time not laughing.  

“She seems really upset,” Hunk said, worried.

“She’s fine, guys, really.  She’s just embarrassed because she still sees you guys as strangers.”

“If anyone should be embarrassed, its you,” Keith snorted, “what the heck was that?”

“I told you i’d show you how to deal with Vik,” Lance shrugged, “Next time she does something behind our backs or teases you, call her out on it.  Tell her that what she’s doing is rude and full of bull.  Normally she’ll back off and admit it, but if she flips out and gets in your face, you dramatize it.  Play up to her emotions.  Make her laugh or feel sorry for her behavior.  Then she’ll realize that she was rude and apologize for it.”

“…that’s ingenious…” Hunk said thinking it over, “but kinda scary,  like, isn’t that manipulation?”

“Kinda,” Lance said, “which is why i’m only telling you guys.  And so help me, if you abuse this information and make her feel bad for something she shouldn’t have to, i will literally kill you.”

He said this with a smile, but his tone made it feel as though he’d said it with a gun to their heads.  

()

the next day Lance drove in with Hunk and Keith and, to everyones surprise, he insisted on sitting in the middle.  

While Hunk and Keith got out of the car and went into the building to start work, Lance held Iverson back.  

“I just wanted to ask what kind of car Schmit drives,” Lance asked, “in fact,what kind of car would any government official drive?”

Iverson raised an eyebrow, “there a reason for this?”

Lance drummed his fingers on the passenger headrest.  How much should he tell Iverson?

“I feel like someone followed me around yesterday,” Lance said slowly, “I took a back rout home, so they didn’t see where i live, but i think i got a glimpse of a car, and the first person to pop into my head was Schmit.”

“I can tell you it wasn’t him,” Iverson said, “He’s been with me with the seniors at the school buildings…and i have him doing all the extra school work to keep him busy, but i will look into any of his friends and see what they’re up to.”

“Thanks,” Lance said, hoping his worry wasn’t showing.  He’d been hoping…praying that it had been Schmit.  


	10. Chapter 10

“Is…is this…”

“Oh i hope so,” Hunk sighed.  

“Is it on?”

“Not yet, if you turn this thing on without connecting-”

“Sorry i asked,” Keith raised his hands in surrender, “so when can we test it?”

“After…i get this…secured,” Hunk grunted as he fastened the bolts down and then stood up, “lets see if we can get a friendly reply before a not friendly one.”

“I’m ready to book it if we get a Galra ship first.”

“Don’t jinx us,” Hunk grumbled.  He flipped the switch and the machine hummed to life.  The garrison team fell back and cheered.  Anything that didn’t blow up was a success to them.  

Hunk and Keith held back until someone appeared on the other side of that screen.  So far all they were getting was static.  

“come in,” Hunk pulled the microphone closer to him, “we are hailing-”

a picture appeared on the screen and Keith jumped.

“HUNK!  KEITH!” Coran and Pidge stood in the bridge of the castle, “When i saw the signature, i knew it had to be-”

Pidge stopped talking as Hunk jumped up and scooped Keith up into a large hug.  He danced around a while before putting Keith down.  

“IT WORKED!  I…I need to go lie down…”

Hunk then left the room.

“Keith?” Coran leaned in, “what wrong with Hunk?  Are you both ok?  Is Lance with you? and who are those people behind you?”

“Oh my GOSH!  those are-”

“Yup, this is the garrison,” Keith said sitting down in front of the screen and ignoring the nerds behind him, “We somehow managed to wind up all the way back here.  We’ve been staying at Lances house, so yeah, Lance is here.  We’ve also, somehow, got Iverson to back us up and get us whatever we needed to contact you.  Where’s Shiro?”

“I finally sent him to bed,” Pidge growled, “he kept getting us to rest and take care of our selves all the while he’s been up and hasn’t slept a wink since the fight!”

“Yeeaaahh,” Keith sighed, “he does that….”

“I don’t know if i’m more upset at the hypocrisy, or the fact that i can’t stay awake for that long even when i had access to caffeine!  Its not fair!”

“Pidge, i’m going to tell you the coordinates of where you should land.  Make sure you come in low and as invisible as possible.  Lance has this paranoia that we shouldn’t let anyone know where our lions are.”

“….you guys fight again?”

“Shut up and hurry up,” Keith snapped, “I’ll be waiting for you guys at the landing site.”

“Just you?”

“Hunk is still recovering from a concussion and broken leg; he just went to get some sleep.  And Lance has a weird family, so he’s busy there.”

“Right, we will see you in a bit then,” Pidge said.

()

Keith was pissed.

“Glare at me all you want Kogane,” Iverson said leaning back against the cave wall.  The sun was setting and the large hole they had created when they’d first found Blue gave a lovely view of the sky.  

Keith had tried to sneak out and had run into Iverson.  After their last one-on-one encounter, neither one of them was too happy about the meet up.  but the instructor insisted he take Keith to the landing site to be there when the others came.  

“So, yours is the red one?” 

Keith rolled his eyes and shifted so that his back was more firmly to Iverson.

"Mcclains is the Blue one and Garrets is the Yellow one….the color scheme is a little too perfect…”

“Don’t matter what you think,” Keith grumbled.  

“Still angry that i told you Shirogone had died?”

“You lied, he was still out there and none of you did anything.”

Iverson sighed, “not like we had the technology to do anything.  What would you have had us do?”

“Che,” Keith snapped, “how about we start with honesty?  I know very well we don’t have the tech for a rescue mission, but you could have told the truth so that Shiros name wasn’t smeared in the mud!  Every other stupid instructor used that stupid Kerboros mission as a “what not to do as a pilot” and it was all a lie!”

Iverson nodded, “it was because we didn’t know what happened.  It was the only logical explanation.  I’m not saying its excusable, but it should be understandable.”

“Whatever.”

“Mmm,” Iverson nodded.  Looking up he could see a large ship coming in hot.

()

“Shirogone.”

“…Iverson…”  Shiro looked down at the hand Iverson held out.  

“Glad to have you back,” he said, hand still out even though Shiro wasn’t taking it, “Mcclain already filled me in on everything.  If we can get you to the Garrison, you can spend the night there and then you can choose to either stay or live at the Mcclain house hold until you leave again.  I’ve been informed that that will be happening soon.”

“Looks like you know more than us,” Shiro said shortly and turned to Keith, “Is Lance at the Garrison?”

“No, he usually stays at his house most of the time,” Keith replied, “Hunks parents show up for the weekends.”

Shiro put a hand on Pidges shoulder, “we’ll find your family soon, promise.”

“then Lance had best throw a big party,” Pidge nodded, “he owes me that much.”

“Is there anyone you’d like us to contact?” Iverson asked, “I could ask Colleen-”

“No,” Pidge said quickly, “Just tell her i’m ok, but i’m looking for Dad and Matt and i’m close.”

Pidge knew that if she saw her mom, then it would make leaving again so much harder.  She understood why Lance was spending all his time at home, though.

“And who is this?” Iverson asked turning to Allura and Coran.

“This is the Princess Allura from the planet Altea,” Shiro introduced them, “And this is…her…attendant…multi-purpose right-hand man, Coran.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Allura took Iversons still out stretched hand.  

“I am glad all of you are safe and i hope we can help you feel comfortable here.  I apologize that it may not be what you are accustomed to-”

“Sir.”

“-but until we can get things straightened out, this is the best we can do.”

Allura laughed, “Coran and I have already decided to stay in our home here.  As you have pointed out, this is not a formal visit and would be rude of us to intrude.  We trust our Paladins to do what they need to and then come back when they have finished.”

“Of course,” Iverson inclined his head respectfully, “If there is anything you do need while you are here, please contact me directly.  I have placed myself between these…paladins, and…everyone else.  Please go through me for anything.”

“Of course,” Allura smiled and turned to Shiro, “So i’ll talk to you once everything is settled?”

“I’ll call you when the sun comes up.”

“Good,”  She turned to Keith and Pidge, “you tie him to a bed and shove whatever you can down that throat of his, i don’t care what he says.”

“Roger,” Pidge replied seriously while Shiro rolled his eyes.  Even Coran was glaring at him.  

“So I’m not allowed to worry?”

“No,” they said together while Iverson walked back to the car.

()

While Shiro and Pidge were getting looked at by Garrison Doctors, Keith filled them in on what they had been doing. Hunk had woken up in search of a late dinner and joined in.

“I can’t wait to surprise Lance tomorrow,” Pidge cackled, “lets just barge in and sit in the living room like its normal.  the look on his face should be epic.”

“I don’t think thats a good idea,” Hunk and Keith said together.

“His sister is a little paranoid,” Hunk said, “You’ll probably get more of a reaction out of her and then Lance won’t talk to you until she’s calmed down.”

“His older sister?”  Shiro asked, “He’s always told us how ‘chill’ she is.”

Hunk and Keith exchanged a look.  Did they tell?  Did they not?”

“Really, it would backfire anyway,” Keith said and Hunk shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“You would be the ones with the epic looks on your faces,” Hunk nodded.

“Why?”

Keith and hunk grinned as they said, “He’s a twin.”

Shiro and Pidge blinked, “what?”

“His older sister is only a few minutes older than him,” Hunk said, “They really do look alike, too, its weird.  Talk about genetics making fun of itself.”

“But…”

“Why…”

“you sure?”

Keith and Hunk waited for them to process the information.

“Seeing it will help,” Hunk said, “When Keith told me i had a hard time picturing it as well.”

“Its even doubly annoying,” Keith added and Hunk elbowed him.

“anyway, I’ll need Pidge tomorrow to help me talk to the board.”

“Noooo…”

“They’ll meet in the after noon,” Hunk assured her, “So you can go say hi to Lance and see his sis, but i’ll really need your expertise. You’re better at talking in front of people any way.”

“Fine, I’ll just stay so you can show me what you’ve got and we can prep for their stupid questions,” Pidge rolled her eyes, “But I am leaving right after that meeting.”


	11. Chapter 11

Shiro drove a garrison company car and followed Keiths directions.  Keith had offered to drive and Shiro has responded with something like, “death first.”

Iverson stayed with Hunk and Pidge to brief them on what to expect when facing the board of educators and the government board of officials.  Their goal for round one being to convince them of any curriculum changes and a shift in spending.  

“You can definitely tell that kids live here,” Shiro said pulling into the drive way, “The door is open and there’s all sorts of stuff in the yard.”

“The kids should be in school,” Keith said, “its thursday.”

As they got out of the car they could hear shouting and banging inside.  Keith, thinking it was just Victoria having another temper tantrum, took his time while Shiro ran in.  

Shiro stepped into the living room from the front door.  The stair case was to his right and straight ahead was the arch way that lead into the kitchen.  To his right lead to a smaller sitting room. 

The coffee table was broken and standing by a closet door to the left, banging on it to get in, was a stranger.  A man with brown hair, a thin face, and had to be the filthiest human Shiro had ever seen in his life.  The smell coming from the man was an afront to that humanity and they stared at each other in shock.

Finally, as Keith showed up behind Shiro, the man turned and ran out through the kitchen door.

“I’ll go,” Keith snapped, taking out his blade and racing after the stranger before Shiro could protest.

He walked up to the closet door and tugged on the handle.

More crazy instinct than anything else, he raised his arm, just as a gun sounded behind the door, and blocked the bullet with his arm.  Wide-eyed Shiro looked at his arm, realized the bullet would have gotten him in the heart, and took a few steps back.

“Lance?” he called instead, “Lance, its just me, Shiro, are you in the closet?  Or is that someone else?  Does sharpshooting run in the family?”

There was a slight scuffling behind the door, and then a slight click as the door unlocked.

Did coat closets normally have locks on the inside?

The door opened only a crack, and Shiro saw the business end of the gun before he saw Lance peaking out.

“….Shiro?”

“Yeah,” Shiro gave a nervous huff and lifted his arm to show off the damage, “gotta say, I’m glad it’s a friend and not an enemy.”

“…sorry…”

“its fine, come on out.”

“No…thank you…”

Shiro frowned.  It may only be his arm that was metal, but that last phrase did not compute with the request.

“Lance, come on-” Shiro stepped forward again and the door snapped shut and locked, “What’s going on?”

“Noth…nothing!” Lance called through the door, “just…just…just need to…I …I mean…Just…”

He continued to stammer on and Shiro was now more worried than ever.  In his worry, he became rash, and ended up activating his arm and ripping the door from its hinges.

There was a scream so loud that Shiro jumped and dropped the door.

“Quiznak,” Lance snapped, “Now you’ve done it.”

He sat there among the coats and boots, his arms wrapped around his sister.  She was in hysterics, and gripping onto her brother with all her might.  Her eyes glued onto Shiro with terror in them and Shiro found he couldn’t look away. 

He’d never seen Lance so scared before.

It kind of made him sick.

“Do you mind, Shiro?” Lance called, breaking into Shiros zoneout mode, “get out of the way!”

Shiro instead bent over to try and help.  The girl screamed and Lance lashed out, kicking shiro in the knee.  Shiro fell back onto the floor, clutching his leg.

“I said back off!  Don’t touch my sister!”

Lance picked her up and carried her to the stairs and then up. 

Shiro could do nothing but watch. 

Lance…had just attacked him…TWICE!

()

Lance put his sister down and accessed the damage.

Her hair was cut short.

Again.

“And after you had grown it back so nicely…”

She was still clutching him, shaking and digging her nails into his back.

“There, there, Shalott, the room is safe.  Remember?  The beast can’t get us in here.”

“…you lied…”

“I’m sorry,” Lance said, starting to rock her, “I should’ve believed you and mom and had been more careful.  I’m so sorry.”

“I’msorrysorrysorrysorrysorry..”

“Shalott-“

“My fault, its all my fault its-“

“Shalott!  VIK!” This time Lance pulled away and forced his sister to look at him, “It will NEVER be your fault.  We did everything together.  We never did anything by ourselves!”

“You ran away!” She wailed, “You ran away!  Its my fault!”

Lance laughed, “oh Vik, that was a mess and a half.  That had nothing to do with anything, let alone you.  If anything, all of us disappearing is all my fault.  I tripped up.”

“…I’m scared…”

“Yeah.”

“don’t go away, k?”

“I’ll be right here.”

()

“I’ve never seen anyone run that fast,” Keith huffed as he walked back into the house, “that, was not natural…Shiro…why are you sitting on the floor with a door?”

Keith looked from the empty closet and the broken door, “Lance’s mom just might kill you.”

“He shot at me…then kicked me…”

“What are you-“

Shiro looked up at him, still trying to get through his head what had happened, “Lance attacked me, twice.  Like I was a stranger.”

Keith scowled.  Thinking about it, he couldn’t picture it.  It was plain even to him that Lance idolized Shiro and would do anything the man asked him to do.  Which was the only reason Keith could work with the guy. They both liked the same person.

“I can’t see it,” Keith said though the evidence was saying other wise.

“I saw it and I don’t believe it,” Shiro said and stood up finally, “I’m going up stairs to talk to him.”

“Was he with his sister?”

“…yes?”

“Then I wouldn’t,” Keith said wrinkling his nose, “he’s weird when it comes to her…you didn’t make her cry, did you?”

Shiro hesitated.  It wasn’t like he’d been trying to scare the girl; he’d only been trying to help.

“Well, at least we know he’s consistent,” Keith said, taking the silence as an admission of guilt, “it would’ve been so unfair if she liked you right off the bat and not us.”

“Let’s call the cops then,” Shrio sighed, “not sure why we didn’t think of this right off the bat, but-“

“No!” Lance came downstairs and hurried over, snatching the phone out of Keiths hands, “no cops.”

“Why not?”

“I’ll call Iverson and see if we can’t beef up security a little, but no. Cops.  You get the cops involved and all hell will break loose.  Also, when did you get here?  Is Pidge and everyone else with you or did you get separated also?”

Again, Shiro was slightly taken aback, “We got here the other day-“

“And no one called?” Lance made a disgusted face, “right, course not.  I’m going to clean up-“

Shiro reached out and grabbed both of Lances arms.  He felt the boy flinch under his grip and Lance strategically lowered his chin in an attempt to hide what Shiro had just noticed.

Long bruises were started to form along the boys neck and, after getting a good look, there was even discoloration along one side of his face as well.  Lance had kept his head tilted to hide it as he talked to them just now.

The position wasn’t enough, it was his attitude that had done the most of the hiding.  No one this hurt acted like nothing happened.  No one accept Lance.

“What happened?”

“Give back my phone.”

“Nothing, and no,” Lance said and tried to shrugged Shiro off, but shiro didn’t move.

“Did you know that man?  Why was he here?  If he was a thief, he’d’ve just stolen stuff and left, not been trying to get into the closet.  Is there something inside that closet?”

“Yeah, its where my dad hides his gun,” Lance said with more than a little attitude, “Vik and I are the only ones who know where it is.”

“So the robber was after the gun?” Keith asked and Lance sighed.

“Mom will be home in a few hours, I would like to clean up before she does-“

“Answer, the, quiznaking, questions,” Shiro said, still remarkably clam despite his language.

“and if I don’t want to?” Lance asked. 

And that was it.  Keith knew what was coming and stepped aside as Shiro bent and threw Lance over his shoulder.

“Nonononononononono!  Shiro!  Put me down!”

Shiro moved Lance to the couch and layed him flat, and when Lance tried to get back up, Shiro shoved his finger in his face. 

“You will stay put,” he growled, “Do I make myself clear?”

Lance blinked, and nodded.  Keith handed Shiro a tube he’d gotten from the medical kit that had also been in the closet.  Then Shiro started to open it, Lance cleared his throat.

“Um, Shiro?”

“You can talk after we get-”

“Shiro, i don’t have a cut,” Lance said, “You don’t put that stuff on a bruise.”

Shiro looked down at it and back up.

“Ice, Shiro,” Lance whispered, “there’s an ice pack in the freezer.”

“…right…”

He tossed the tube back into the tote and marched into the kitchen.  Lance tried to get up and get the bruise balm from the tote and Keith slapped his hand.

“I’ll tell,” he said and Lance laid back down.

“Fine,” Lance hissed, “I want the brown bottle.  We’ve not used it in a while, so its probably near-”

Keiith tossed it and Lance barely caught it.

“Already found it.”

“Thanks.”

Lance sat up and began to apply the balm.  Keith wrinkled his nose.  the smell was strong and earthy.  

“I couldn’t find the ice pack, so i brought a bag of peas,” Shiro said walking back into the room, “and what is that stench.”

“Smell of good times,” Lance said, “And that’s fine.”

He pressed the peas against his face while Shiro took a spot on the other end of the couch.  Lance took a tentative look at his two teammates and couldn’t help but to start laughing.  

This was so stupid.  

()

When Lance finally felt like the silence had gone on long enough he sighed again, irritated, “We were making lunch for hunk and his crew.  When …code name: Beast, came waltzing in through the front door.  He tried to go up stairs, I stopped him, we struggled, Vik came down and I managed to get both of us into the closet.  I assume you guys came when he stopped banging on the door?  We just though he was trying to get in a different way, so when you jerked the handle we freaked out a little.  Sorry again…”

“Whatever,” Shiro said, waving the apology away. He was agitated to a point he didn’t recognize, “he was after you two?”

Lance hesitated, realizing he could’ve lied, and hadn’t, and was regretting it.

“More or less…”

“Why?”

Lance moved the peas from his face to his neck.  He was thinking, that was plain to see.  They were not under the impression that Lance was a great thinker of any kind, so everything showed on his face.  The worry lines got deeper, the shiftiness of a mind trying to come up with a lie, slowly relaxed into a resignation to tell the truth.

“That was our biological dad,” Lance sighed, finally, “Mom divorced him when he was sent to prison and that humiliated him.  Vik and I were also the ones to get him arrested in the first place…”

Shiro looked over at the injuries.  All the times Lance had gotten hurt and had laughed them off.  All the times he’d deliberately put himself in front of someone else was because he was used to putting himself between his dad and his sister…

“Sooo, we have to call the cops and get them to arrest him again,” Keith said and Lance raised his phone and smashed it against the ground.  Keith looked, jaw hanging open, at his ruined phone.

“I said,” Lace hissed, “no cops.  Papa is a really smart man.  It doesn’t matter if he has a record, or that he almost killed his previous wife and kids, somehow he will win any court case.  I know it, my mom knows it, we all know it.  Which is why we never even wanted to think of him finding us!”

He winced as he raised his voice and forced himself to calm back down.

 “You know I used to be as smart as Vik?” Lance said grinning, but starring at the floor.  I used to know five different languages.  I could recite the periodic table.  Vik and I built our own rocket and it worked.  Together we were considered prodigies.  Over time the blows to her head caused her to be unable to control behavior impulses.  She’s fully capable of acting like an adult, but its easier for her to be a little childish. It takes a lot of the stress off and helps keep her calm. Her physical condition will always be damaged, but it’s the mental ones what keep her from graduating.  she was supposed to go back to school next week, but after today its going to be a while.  

I don’t remember a lot about the night papa was arrested.  We knew he’d be released at some point, but we just didn’t think he’d actually chase us down. we changed our names a few times.  Mom met Paul.  we approved of Paul.  When papas side of the family heard she’d gotten remarried, they had a fit.  They already weren’t happy that she’d divorced papa and run away, but to remarry on top of that is a huge insult.  Aunt Rose was the only one who seemed to be on our side.  She and Mom would talk still…but not anymore, that dirty, lying piece of trash.  guess its not totally her fault though…papa probably fed her some sob story and told her that he’d changed and all that bull.  He’s sneaky like that.”

Shiro had no idea how to feel about it all.  was he protective?  Angry?  Sad?  All of the above?  What was he supposed to say or do?

As for Keith, he just sat as still as possible.  He was afraid that if he moved, Lance would stop talking.  And it was clear he’d never talked about it before.

“Anyway,” Lance sighed as though they were talking about someone elses problems, “papa found us, not sure how, but he did.  We’ve only ever seen Paul angry once before, and that’s when he found out where we’d come from and this lady wouldn’t put in our claim to have our records hidden.  His face went all stiff and he asked to speak to her off to the side.  He never once raised his voice, but after five minutes she was back and putting our request before all the others.  We really like Paul.  He won’t be mad at us for this, but he will be worried.  Its best to make the swelling go down before we tell them anything.”

By now Lance was just rambling, all with the most casual smile on his face.  Shiro let him talk.

When Lance finally fell silent Shiro waited a bit longer just to see if he’d pick back up again.  But the boy just sat back, same smile on, and looked tired.  

“Lance.”

“Yeah?”

“you need to call your mom.”

“yeah, i know.”

“Keith and i will keep this under wraps and let you guys deal with it.  However, if he comes back,” Shiro flexed his right hand, “hope you don’t mind if i bitch slap him around a little.”

Lance laughed.


	12. Chapter 12

It was after dinner and it was the most silent dinner Keith had ever witnessed with so many people in the room.  Before dinner Lance had argued with Marco about hiding his bayard.  Lance had put ot on the end table where it was supposed to have stayed and then the ‘intruder’ came he didn’t have his weapon.

Keith and Shiro stood by the stairs.  the three younger kids were ‘upstairs’; so in actuality they were sitting on the top step listening in.  Paul sat in the arm chair and Lance and Vic shared the small couch while their mother ranted and paced back and forth where the coffee table used to be.  The paladins had no idea what was being said.  But the twins looked suitably chastened.

“The point is,” Paul said slowly when his wife took a breath, “is that you should have called us sooner.  waiting until we were about to come home anyway is not EVER going to be ok.  I am going to go and file a report, Lance come with me.”

“A report isn’t going to do any-”

“Lance,” Paul stood and pointed to the door, “come with me.”

“k,” Lance sighed and stood.  He hugged his mother, told her that everything was ok, and they headed for the door.

“Keith,” Shiro jerked his head and Keith scowled.  

“fine,” he sighed and followed Paul and Lance out the door.  

“You are Shiro?” 

Shiro jumped a little as he turned to face Lances mother.  Victoria passed by and went up the stairs without looking at him.  

“Yes, yes ma’am, i’m sorry-”

“Thank you so much for looking after my boy,” she beamed at him and he figured out where Lance got his smile, “he can be a handful, but he is a good child.”

“He works hard, ma’am,” Shiro said as she lead him further into the living room now that the family meeting was over, “he’s saved my life a fair few times.”

“That is to be expected,” she sighed, “never had a sense of danger and then it got worse as he’s gotten older.  But you and all the others are more than welcome to our home and anything that we have.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary-”

“I will determine what is necessary.  I also insist you tell me your favorite meal.”

“I’m not a picky eater-”

“Nonsense! boys do not become so large and strong as you without eating.  And you must have come across SOMETHING you like more than others, that’s just logic.”

“Just give up.”

Shiro looked over and peaking over the end of the couch were two heads.  One with light brown hair and the other with the red hair of his father.

“You won’t win.”

“What are you two doing,” their mother snapped, “I told you to go to bed.”

“we’re covering for Lance,” Mary said peeking from behind the armchair, “he would want us to look after his friends.”

“thanks for the advice,” Shiro said leaning over to the boys, “what do you guys like?  I need some ideas.”

“Pizza,” they said together.

“that sounds good,’ Shiro nodded, “Its been a long time since i’ve had pizza.”

“It isn’t for you,” their mother sighed, “I’m sorry.”

Shiro chuckled, “not sure why you’re apologizing ma’am since i’m the one that asked them.”

“Call me Layla,” she said, “I insist.”

“alright, Layla,” Shiro said putting what he wanted to say in order before he spoke, “I may have to talk to the garrison in a few days, but i want you to know that if i leave, Keith and one other paladin will always be here; whether its hunk or Pidge.”

Lance’s moms eyebrows shot up.  She had not been expecting this.  But she smiled after it sunk in.

“that truly does put me at ease,” she said, “thank you.”

()

Paul had called and said they would be late getting back to the house.  Who knew Wednesday night would be so busy at the police station?

Shiro insisted he take the couch since he was a light sleeper and would wake up if anyone tried to come in.  So it surprised him a little when woke up and found Lance hovering over him with only the street light outside as a light source.

“What the heck, Lance?”

“I’m not Lance,” Victoria said, “they’re not back yet…”

She was twisting the end of her shirt and, as far as Shiro could tell, she hadn’t blinked since he woke up.  He sat up, but she didn’t back away. 

“they should be back,” she said quietly.

“Have you tried calling them?” Shiro asked and she nodded.

“Not picking up…dad always picks up when i call.”

“Ok,” Shiro took a deep breath, “is your mom awake?”

“she took a sleeping pill,” vik said, “i woke up first.”

“Let me make a call of my own and then we’ll see what we can do next,” shiro said pulling out his communicator.

“Pidge, hunk, I know you guys are awake.”

“Yeah, Shiro, whats up?”  Pidge asked as her face appeared, “Hunk is taking a nap; being grilled by the admin really drained the poor guy.”

“I need you to scan for Lances and Keiths Bayards…you still have them chipped, right?”

“Yeah, but its hooked up to the castle systems…is everything alright?”

“…when this is all done we need to work on our communication skills.”

“There is nothing wrong with MY communications skills,” Pidge huffed, “Now spill, what’s going on?”

“I might need you to come watch the house if i don’t get the answer i want,” Shrio yawned, “Think Coran is up?”

“He’s been pinging me messagess every few minutes, so he better be…”

“Thanks,” Shiro hung up with Pidge and called the castle.

“OH!  Shiro, i wasn’t…un…what-what do you need?”  Coran with his innocent doe eyes.  Victoria giggled.

“Let me guess,” Vik said sitting next to Shiro, “Bors?”

“What?” 

“Oh, Lance, i’m glad you’re ok,” Coran beamed, “I’ve had to rerout the geriform without you!  but now that you’re here, you can help me clean out the vents!”

“Coran, thi-”

“Oh man!” Vic sighed, “that sucks, can’t wait to clean out those vents man, anyway, you know where Keiths weapon is located?  we’re having a hard time locating him.”

“Sure thing,” Coran said and started to punch keys on the console.  

Shiro gave Vik a look and she grinned back.  In the half light she looked almost devilish.  she mouthed ‘why not’ and went back to the screen.

“I am sending you the map now.  Thanks to Pidge hooking us up with your earth information database, i’ve been able to pull up all sorts of maps, AND I DIDN’T HAVE TO SCAN ANYTHING!”

Vik laughed and even Shiro grinned.  Coran continued to rant about Earths information highways when he stopped.

“did you give your bayard to Keith, Lance?”

“No, why?” Vik answered.

“I mean, its not like you to let Keith touch anything of yours but-”

“Coran,” Shiro said, “Are the blue and red dots together?”

“Yes, they are,” Coran said completely perplexed, “Why would Keith steal Lance’s bayard?”

“Never mind that Coran, please send me the map now?”

“Sure thing,” he said, “Oh, and Lance, i’ve kept the box you said was important intact.  Its in your room by the bed.”

“Oh…ok, thanks…Coran,” Vik grinned and when Shiro hung up she giggled fiercely.  Shiro looked at the map closely.

“Well,” I have their locations,” Shiro said making the map bigger, “It looks like they’re at a gas station…correction…they are behind the gas station…what?”

“That’s our cue to leave, right?” Vik asked, “I can worry now, right?”

“No you can’t worry now, and there is no ‘our’,” Shiro said calling Pidge again.

“I’m already heading over,” Pidge said, “I needed a walk any way.”

“Fine, just hurry up, k?”

“Yea,” she dropped the call and Shiro began to pull his shoes back on.

“I’ve already got my shoes on,” Vik said as though that settled every argument in the history of ever, “I’m ready before you, therefore you are actually following me.”

“That’s not how it works,” Shiro said.

“Yes it does,” Victoria said with a straight face, “because my face is the key to getting what we need.”

“And what’s that?”  

“If they’re hiding from the Beast, then by showing my face, the Beast will go after us, which will give them an opening to escape.  Lance told me you were an amazing fighter so i’m not too worried about being the bait so long as you intercept.”

“You’re mother-”

“My mother doesn’t need to know,” Vik hissed, “the less she knows, the better.  I’m the only one that knows the whole truth. Most of what Lance told you today was just what other people told him about what happened.  That Beast nearly killed him and i’m not gonna let him have another shot at it.  I panicked today and now that i’ve had time to process everything, i will NOT lose.”

shiro sighed, “fine, but the story is that you followed me, got it?”

Vik rolled her eyes, “yes, your majesty.”

()

Shiro sat outside the ICU.  

Vik was on the phone with her mother and Hunk was running down the hall with Coran and Allura.  

“What happened?”

“What’s going on?”

“You said Keith was hurt?”

“Lance!  What happened-oh you’re on the phone…”  

Shiro didn’t move.  He sat with his fingers laced in front of his face.  the three of them held back and quieted when his lack of response spoke loud enough.   Allura sat next to him and held his arm.  

“I’m sure he will be fine,” Allura said, “We can take him back to the ship and…the healing pods will work just fine.”

“I took my time getting there,” Shiro said thickly, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  On any other planet i’d’ve ran there without thinking, and here…”

“It makes sense to let your guard down at home,” Hunk said, “we all forget danger isn’t relative.”

“Mom is on her way,” Vik said and reached out to take Lances bayard from the other chair.

“Put that down,” Shiro said more sternly than he’d meant, “That’s not yours.”

“Lance and I share everything,” She replied loftily.

“Oh…so where is Lance?” Hunk asked, “And i’m not sure i like your hair cut like that.”

Shiro sighed.  when he and Vik had arrived, Lance was gone, Paul had been shot twice, and Keith was fighting off three people at once.  All three men were in police custody with injuries the size of Shiros fist.

Vik gripped the bayard and it transformed into more of a shotgun like weapon.

“You stay here and mope,” she snapped, “i’m going to find my brother.”

“You should wait for your mom,” Shiro stood, “I’ll go-”

“Mr.” Victoria turned and glared at Shiro, “our papa killed people.  That was his job.  The fact that there are people helping him means that he’s not really the one in control.  All prison did was give him a friends list!  He’s after something and i’ll be hanged before i let him get it!”

“I understand that-”

“No you don’t!  Why do you all think Lance never told you anything!  All we have is each other!  If i don’t go after him then no one else will!”

“Lie,” Allura stood and marched forward, “your brother is my paladin and i’ll do anything to see him back safe.”

“Oh step off Guinevere,” sneered Vik, “before i shoot your face off.”

“Excuse-”

“Victoria,” Hunk stepped in between her and the others, “we will look for Lance.  How about we all go back to the castle and do some searching.  He didn’t take his com unit, but i’m sure there are other ways to track him.”

“Yeah, its called following the smell of tequila and Jagger,” vik rolled her eyes, “Tell me you guys can at least track without your high and mighty tech from another world.”

“Of course we can-”

“right, you guys do whatever,” Vik backed up, “I’ll be doing what Lance and I used to do for fun down in Cuba~  First one to find them gets to shoot them!”

And she was gone.  

“Hunk, you follow her,” shiro said, “Quickly.”

hunk nodded and ran after victoria.  They watched them until they turned the corner.

“What is a Guinevere?” Allura asked, “It doesn’t sound pleasant!”

“Are you sure Hunk can handle that…Lance clone?”

“She’s his twin sister, Coran, and if Hunk can handle Lance, then i’m hopping he can handle his sister.  And Allura…You’re just going to have to look up Guinevere cause i can’t tell you why she called you that.”

()

“Only follow if you can keep up,” Victoria snapped as she hoofed it out of the hospital.

“Where are you going?” hunk panted.

“To the library.”

“But the library-”

“Opens in twenty minutes,” Vik sighed, “Do try to keep up.”

Hunk looked down at his phone and it really said 08:40am.  

“Have you slept at all?’

“Not really, but that doesn’t matter,” Vik shrugged as she picked up the pace. “I made promises and i’m going to keep them.”

 “If that’s the case, then you need a better hold on that gun,” Hunk said snatching it out of her hand and bringing her to a halt, “You’re shaking.”

“So what,” she stampped her foot, “i want to help!  I want that beast to die!  I want to be the one to do it!  I. WANT. MY. KNIGHT. BACK!”

“And we will get him back,” Hunk said calmly, “Lance has been in sticky situations before-”

“If you only know how stick-”

“QUIZNAK!” Hunk finally lost it and grabbed her shoulders, “victoria, sister of my best friend, sister of my heart, I need you to understand that all five of us have been in really dangerous situations.  We get that this is different and that this is a higher risk, but PLEASE, we have to do this calmly…i never thought i’d be the one to say that…”

“Yeah, you look like the jumpy one,” victoria grinned, “I can see why Lance latched onto you.”

She started to walk again and Hunk hesitated before hurrying to catch up.

“Wait, what do you mean?  I was the one that latch onto him…i’m sure of it.”

“Exactly,” Vik laughed, “you were needy and Lance is needy, so you guys naturally meshed together.”

“You’re not needy?” Hunk tried to get back at her.

“Oh, i don’t hide the fact i’m needy,” Viks grin widened, “I ripped a door from the wall and nailed his door shut while he was asleep.  I painted the living room red and glued his shoes to the front porch…in hindsight i cringe at the things i do, but at the time i remember quite clearly that it was a good idea.”

“What did you do after he left,” hunk asked and hurried as she took a sharp turn down a different street.

“…i called the garrison every five minutes…after the fifth time they stopped picking up the phone. mom got really mad because if there was an emergency our number was now black listed and they wouldn’t pick up no matter what.”

“Wait didn’t you guys call for his birthday that one time?”

“Yeah, that’s because Paul used his cell phone to call…he may always pick up when we call, but he never lets any of us touch his phone…because the previous reason.”

“If you guys were so close why didn’t he say he was a twin?”

“If you find out you find out,” vik sighed, “I’m not gonna tell.  Lance and I have our code and part of that code is to not let outsiders in.  Its between us and only us.”

“So the reason he didn’t tell us he’s a twin is because he’s a twin?”

“About time you caught up,” she laughed.


	13. Chapter 13

“Shiro!”  Pidge ran down the hall, “What’s going on!  Lance’s mom has been filling me in on a few things, but-”

Layla and Iverson were right behind her and While Iverson greeted Allura and Coran again, Shiro addressed Lances mom.

“I don’t know, Layla?” Shiro asked, “If you could explain things a little more clearly?”

Her fingers were twisting the ends of her jacket and she nodded, “yes, i shall explain.  But let me check on Paul first.”

“We’ll wait for you in the lounge down the hall,” Shiro replied and she nodded.

“The kids are at a friends house,” Pidge said, “Lance’s mom was crazy about not letting them talk to anyone other than those she’d met before.  She up and threatened the lady they’re staying with saying they weren’t even allowed outside.”

“Well, yeah,” Shiro sighed, “makes sense.”

“Keith is hurt and Lance is missing?”

“Yeah,” Shiro rubbed his head as he sat on a straight backed chair, “i wasn’t thinking clearly and-”

“Don’t even go there Shiro,” Pidge said kicking him lightly, “Lance AND his family didn’t tell us anything,”

“Lance told me this afternoon,” Shiro stressed, “I…I didn’t think his first dad would attack if he had other people with him.  I didn’t think he’d have the advantage of numbers…damn, that’s the worst excuse…”

“I’ve heard worse,” Iverson said, thinking he was helping, but Shiro just sunk further into his self loathing.

When Layla joined them she was no less fidgety.

“He’ll be fine- they both will be fine,” she said, “the doctors are very confident in their recovery.”

“That’s good,” Pidge said.

“I am very sorry all of you have gotten involved with my mistakes,” Layla took a shuddering breath, “this really is the worst possible situation.”

“How about you start at the beginning,” Iverson suggested.  Layla bit her lip and sat down on the couch.  She’d never had an audience before, and she didn’t care for it, but these were people she could trust…right?  Keeping silent hadn’t done any good.  It was time to try something different and see where that took them.

“My first husband wasn’t the best, but he…became intolerable once Victoria and Lance were born.  Even after we enrolled them in the best school available to us when they were four years old!  They were the most clever children.  Then…he started to take Lance out when he went to work.”

“What did he do for work?”  Shiro asked, wondering about what Victoria had told them.

“…I don’t know,” Layla said, her bottom lip trembling, “i know it wasn’t any good…but we didn’t have money and it was all we had…i wasn’t allowed out of the house.  I didn’t ask questions and i was able to feed my children.  But then Lance started to have…what the doctors at the time called Night Scares.  Some nights he just wouldn’t sleep.  Victoria…she sometimes would dress up as Lance and pretend to be him and go in his place.  Every time i tried to interfere…i was told to stay out of it…I’ll admit, i wasn’t the best mother…i should have been stronger…”

Allura didn’t know what she was talking about, but judging by the looks on the others faces she knew it was hard.  The princess scooted closer and took Laylas hand.

“I’m sure you did the best you could,” Allura said, “we all love Lance so you had to have done a good job.”

“...Thank you, dear,” Layla smiled, but her eyes lingered on Alluras ears and hair, “well…everything came to a head one day and he was arrested.  It took a long time…it took a long time for them to be released into my care.  In that time i made sure i had a divorced finalized.  I looked at the papers myself.  His family, of course, were upset.  My own family was livid and I’ve not spoken with them for a long time.  the people i had once called friends practically ran me out of town.  I took that opportunity to take the money i’d been hiding…under the porch, and I took the kids out of Cuba.  I was not going to be around when he was let out of prison.  We traveled around.  I worked and we moved from one place to the next….we had fun…those were good years.  It was a while before we settled here.  I met Paul and he’d already had Mary.  Everyone thinks she’s mine, and i let them.  His first wife had died and we were both so awkward and strange with each other.  Without our kids working together i don’t think we would ever have started dating, forget marriage.”

She chuckled to herself at the memories, forgetting momentarily the reason she was telling them the story in the first place.  Then she remembered and sobered.

“If I had known sooner that he had gotten out of prison, i would have moved…but then again, Lance went missing and i couldn’t move with him gone.  What if he tried to come home and found an empty house or a stranger?  I couldn’t leave…”’

“Of course you couldn’t,” Coran said, also not really following the conversation, but feeling the need to agree.  The woman in front of him was sobbing and Coran never knew what to do when people leaked.

“So…really only Victoria and Lance know what your first husband did for a job,” Pidge said, “Which of course makes them targets if its illegal.”

“only Victoria remembers,” Layla sniffed, “Lance doesn’t remember much of Cuba…too many…too many blows to the head…”

“He does a good job hiding that,” Pidge said, “He’s always bragging about how he’d play hooky from elementary school.”

“He fills in the gaps with his own…imaginings…the doctors all say that’s normal.  And we’ve tried to fill in and explain the snippets he does  remember… oh …he’s…my baby…That beast has my baby…”

Allura held her as she sobbed.  

“I’m confused,” Coran whispered to Shiro, “What kind of beast are we talking about?”

“The worst kind,” Shiro muttered, “absolutely the worst kind.”

()

Victoria held her lollipop the way one would hold a cigarette.  she typed in a way that made Hunk cringe no matter how effective it was.  

“So far i’m not seeing any increase in the usual store sales-”

“What are you looking at?”

“I’ve hacked into various commerce systems,” she shrugged and licked her candy, “Its almost eleven, I am half starved.  Think you can go grab me a meatball sandwich next door?”

“Sorry,” Pidge said dropping a fast food bag next to the computer, “all i have are burgers.”

“Bless you Pidge!” Hunk cried and was shushed.  He reached into the bag and ate his share gleefully. 

Victorias eyes Pidge up and down, “the spunky one…”

“shiro and Iverson are with your mom and the little kids,” Pidge said, “your mom is really mad that you’re here and not at home.  But we promised that we’d bring you home.”

“Not until i find Lance,” Vik said leaning back, “I’ve got a good run going and i can’t stop now.  So far those jerks have hidden themselves very well.”

“I think you all need to go into hiding,” Pidge said, “Your mom is already looking into some places.”

“What’s the point in hiding?” Vik grinned and Hunk finally realized why it unnerved him so much.  a few of her teeth were broken which gave her a wolfish look. And she was on the hunt. “Lance and I would find papa’s targets if they went into hiding.  I know all the tricks.  they will find us if they really want to.”

“Don’t you think you’d find out more if you used better resources?” Pidge asked raising an eyebrow.

“Your alien ship will not give me access to bank statements…” Vik said absorbing herself back into the screen.

“No, but I know of a garrison computer that will give you more than just a few easily accessed bank statements…but only if you think you can stand the company of us…intellectual snobs.”

“Lance didn’t tell me you were a bitch,” Vik said standing up, “but i like the way you work, and quicker access to what i need would be nice.  And I’ll tell you the same thing i told this guy, only follow me if you can keep up.”

()

Lance focused on his breathing.  It wasn’t that he didn’t also have panic attacks, it was that he could control them better than his sister.  He couldn’t feel his hands anymore and even though the tape was holding his shoulders to the chair, it was too much work to sit up straight on his own.  His ankles hurt and he could feel the blood pressure around the tape was holding them to the chair legs.  

how long had it been?

He’d been able to get the tape off his mouth by pushing spit out and working it off.  He’d already shouted himself horse and still no one was in the room with him.  

He was in a basement of some kind, but he couldn’t see anything through the tiny and filthy window.  The floor was dirt and the ceiling was wood and old.  He couldn’t really tell where he was, but he knew it wasn’t anywhere near the garrison town. He, Vik and Mary had explored most abandoned structures and he didn’t recognize this one.

Being by himself like this was not his favorite.  It allowed his mind to wander and he hated it when his mind wondered.  He needed a distraction.  Any distraction.  

He didn’t want to think about how worried his mom was at this moment.

He didn’t want to think about Paul in the hospital.

He didn’t want to think about the way Vik was handling his disappearance.

And he REALLY didn’t want to think about how the team was handling the news.  Everything he’d not said.  Everything he’d bold faced lied about.  

It was going to be very awkward facing them again.

And with that thought he was no longer afraid of dying.

()

“Vik, we’re warning you.”

“noted, and ignored.”

“Shiro will find out,” Hunk said sagely.

“And when he does he’ll lock you in your room and have Iverson post guards outside your door and window,” Pidge threatened, “All we’re saying is that you should sleep for an hour.”

“Its been two days,” Vik reached over for her Dr Pepper and Pidge snatched it out of her reach.  

“We know how long its been,” she snapped, “and how do you think Lance would feel once we found him and you’re half dead from exhaustion?!”

“Happy,” Vik said very secure in her answer, “because then we’ll both be in the hospital and we can have fun with the equipment like we did before.”

“Wow,” Hunk said, “i can actually see that…”

“Help me out Hunk,” Pidge hissed.  Shiro had trusted them to make sure Vik was getting the rest she needed…not only had she refused her medicine, but she also refused to sleep.  It set Pidge and hunk on edge because…it was Lance.  She looked and made the effort to sound just like her twin, but she was winning every argument they tried to pit against her.

It was like Lance himself was suddenly brilliant and savvy.

So unnerving.

“Until i get a solid lead, i can’t stop,” Vik said pulling out a lollipop from her pocket, “its the rule.  Its how we were taught. Lance would do the same for me.”

“Except Lance isn’t as savvy as you are,” Pidge said, “he’d have to rely on us-”

“Shut up,” Vik growled barring her teeth at Pidge, “you know nothing.  Just because he’s spacey now doesn’t mean he was always like that.  He was actually smarter than me when we were kids.  Everything i’m doing now i actually learned from him.  he showed me how to manipulate a conversation and how to observe everything in a flash.  It all came so naturally to him.  Then papa beat his head into the ground and cut off his oxygen for..well…it was long enough for brain damage.  The doctors were positive he’d never talk again.  they thought i’d never walk again because of all the badly healed fractures i had.  But we took care of each other and mom worked hard to get us the help we needed.  I KNOW that the moment push comes to shove, Lance will remember how to do what he used to.  Like i said, it came naturally to him.  He’ll just do it.”

“that’s it,” Pidge threw up her hands and spun vik around in her seat, “I’ve had it with you.  I understand that you’re lives sucked, and its coming back for a round two, but DON’T YOU DARE assume we don’t care about Lance every BIT as much as you do!  We are looking just as hard!  but because we have to be here and watch YOU, WE can’t be out THERE physically LOOKING!”

As Pidge watched, Viks eyes glazed over and lost focus.

“I’m positive that they arn’t in the county,” Vik said pushing away from Pidge and going back to the computer, “I’m searching the surrounding areas for activity.  If papas old pal is here as well, then there is a specific item that will have a higher sale rate.”

“What if he’s not here.”

“It was a figure of speech, of course he’s here.  I think his name was George, or something like that.  He’s a real nasty piece of work.  There’s no way papa will do anything without him since he’s also the smarter one and the one that got him into the country.”

“You know this?”

“I already looked into how papa got here,” Vik said waving her hand at them, “old news.  I’m guessing about five of the original band of murderers are here with him from Cuba and then they made friends here- damn, a double negative.”

“Sooo, we catch them and get them deported and then put them on a watch list so they wont ever be allowed in the country again.”

Victoria laughed.

“What?”

“two things,” Vik said through her laughter, “first, that only happens if you guys find him before me.  Cause they all die if i find them first.  second, This is not going to court.  There is no one better at looking like an innocent than papa.  He will play every heart string like an acoustic guitar.  Give him one breath to speak and we’re done for.  We’ll be split up, at best, and at worst we both will be taken from mom and dad.  If we don’t play a better strategy, even you guys will get into trouble.”

“We’ll just tell the police the truth,” Hunk said, “we all saw the damage Keith and Paul took. and Shiro saw you and Lance being attacked the other day.”

“…let’s pray it works out that way…” Vik said, but she wasn’t convinced.

()

Shiro paced in the Mcclains living room.  Layla stared at the tv, her jaw open.  the little ones were looking between the three of them and tried hard to not ask questions.

On the 6 o’clock news the anchor reported a body that had been found in a nearby ditch.  the mug shot of the victim showed a clean shaven man with deep blue eyes.  His children had inherited a lot of his looks. 

Kevin Diaz, 48, two shots to the chest and one shot to the back of his head.  suspected gang related death.  Time of death between 48 and 72 hours ago.


	14. Chapter 14

Every time Lance moved his unswollen eyelid, there was a creak. 

This was more confusing than he was able to cope with.  It bugged him.  Didn’t matter how much he hurt, your eyelids weren’t supposed to creak!

“Looks like we found the right place this time.”

Lance glanced up and caught only a glimpse of a larger man.  He didn’t know who it was but he knew it wasn’t a friend.  He’d been down in that basement for days; how many, he still couldn’t tell.  But long enough that his stomach had stopped asking for food.

“Too bad Kevin couldn’t show us where he put you or we would’ve been here sooner,” the man said and ruffled Lance hair, “in a sense you could say we’re your saviors!  We’ve saved you from a slow death!”

Other foot steps could be heard above their heads and it finally came together that the creaking had been the floor boards, not his eyelid.

()

“Allura, do you have anything?” Shiro asked.

“Shiro,” Allura’s voice came through the com unit pointedly, “We’ve been looking for almost a week…i told you that i would call you once we found something…did i call you?”

Shiro opened his mouth to argue, but Allura cut him off.

“No, Shiro, you called me, so is it really logical to ask me such a stupid question?”

“We’ve looked EVERYWHERE!” Shiro couldn’t take it, “We’ve turned this entire state inside out!  If you can’t find anything, then what do we have to rely on?!”

“We found three other missing persons,” Iverson said shaking his head, “but not the one we wanted.”

()

“…Murder suicide….no, papa is too selfish…where could they be hiding…they aren’t moving or we would have run into them by now….the ones we caught arn’t talking…i’m missing something…a motive…a link…stupid police not letting me interrogate them….they’d talk if i had one minute alone…”

Pidge looked over at hunk.  They were in the garrison library and Vik had holed herself up under the desk.  By now all her nails were nibbled down to the quick; at least she’d stopped crying.  She curled up into the darkest corner and hugged her knees as she muttered to herself.

“Paul and Keith are awake and the doctors are finally letting them have visitors,” Pidge said poking her head under the desk, “maybe we should go talk to them?”

“Getting out of the library would help you think more clearly,” Hunk said. 

“….yeah…i wanna see dad…”

Hunk helped her wiggle her way out of the small space under the desk and they walked out of the library.  

()

Keith flexed his hands, the scabs on his knuckles pulled and itched.  

How had he lost so easily?  He’d fought large purple aliens!  He’d gotten into mass fights before, and won!  These guys had kicked his butt back to kindergarten and then added salt!

“Keith!” Shiro ran in with a scowling nurse behind him, “How are you doing?  You ok?”

“…don’t know,” Keith said, “i don’t think my pride has ever gotten a blow like this.”

“Oh well, if its only your pride,” Shiro embraced him awkwardly through all the wires and tubes that surrounded him.

“Doc says i broke a few ribs…” Keith muttered.  His lip also felt weird.  He’d had a split lip before, but this one had needed stitches.  

“And fractured your arm,” Shiro said, “along with all the other injuries, they were kind of amazed you were still in one piece.”

“…I reopened the side one,” Keith said, impressed that a wound that had already healed had split open again, “didn’t know that could happen…”

“Now we do,” Shiro said sitting on his bed, “Now that you’re awake, Iverson can pull a few strings and we can get you to the castle and into one of the healing pods if you like.”

“Shiro…”

“yeah?”

“…how hard do you have to be hit to end up with brain damage?”

“Keith-”

“Cause this hurts, Shiro,” Keith felt his eyes burn, “this really hurts.”

“AAAAAAAA!”

Shiro was up and had his hand activated before he realized that it was victoria.  She had run into the room and dive bombed onto the bed.  With a wild grin she looked at Keiths shocked and stunned face and laughed.

“Tears?!  For real?!”

“Victoria, that’s-”

Shiro was about to scold her and was contemplating throwing her bodily out of the room, but she reached out and wiped Keiths face with her sleeve…and then pinched his nose and giggled.  she leaned forward and tilted her head to look up at his face.

“Tears are for the ending,” she said, “this is the middle of this story, so now is for the stoic and stiff upper lip.  Now is when you realize how messed up your enemy is and you must rise above and defeat the evil!”

She stood on the bed and gave a little bounce as she raised her arms out to either side.

“Now is when you grin and bare your teeth and laugh in the face of danger!  MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Shiro looked over at Hunk and Pidge who were still standing at the door way.  They just shrugged; they’d given up a LONG time ago.

“I-I’m sorry,” Keith leaned away from her, not comfortable with how familiar she was behaving, “I couldn’t help Paul or Lance or-”

Vik laughed, “anyone who can bounce back and put up a fight after getting a back hand from papa deserves a knighthood.  but i’ll need to consult with Lance on that first, so i’m making you a squire until further notice.”

()

“So this is the castle,” hunk said jumping out of the van Iverson was driving.  Victorias eyes widened and she ran up to the ship.  Shiro and Pidge helped Keith out of the back and carried him into the castle.  

“Lance’s lion is in her hanger,” Allura said as kindly as she could, “would you like to see it?”

the princess had no idea where she stood with Lances sister.  Layla loved Allura, but vic hadn’t even glanced in her direction since she’d threatened to shoot her in the face.  Vik nodded and followed Allura into the castle.  Hunk and Iverson followed them.

“…Hunk was telling me that the lions are alive?”  Iverson asked, trying to get a better understanding of the technology.

“More or less,” Allura chuckled, “they choose their paladin.  there is a special bond between a paladin and their lion.”

“How very convenient,” Vik sneered, “The one that attaches itself to Lance is the one that was left on this planet.  And then you wont even let them send a message home, right, Guin?”

“Believe me, it wasn’t planned,” Allura said, forcing herself to be nice, “It was just how things happened.  and my name is Allura, Princess Allura.”

“Mmm,” Vik grinned showing her pointed teeth, “i see.”

“And we turn here to get to the hangar,” Hunk said loudly.  there was more animosity than he thought was safe between the two girls.

They entered the blue lions hangar and Vik beamed up at the large cat.  

“OH!  KITTY!”

She ran up to the barrier and even before she touched it the barrier lowered itself.

“WHAT?!”

“Well, i guess they are twins?”

“What just happened?” Iverson asked as Vik, blissfully ignorant, ran around the lion.  

“I guess Blue is ok with Victoria flying her,” Allura muttered, her face twitching slightly.  

“Um, Allura?” hunk asked, “What is the blue lion qualifications?  you never really said.”

“Che,” Allura turned on her heel and stormed out of the hangar, “You show her around!”

()

“See?  I told you it would work,” the man said patting Lances head.  they had shoved food down his throat until he’d stopped throwing it back up.  It wasn’t what you were supposed to do, but they all seemed to think it was funny how quickly it would come back up.

the strangers had cut the zip ties around his wrists and had tapped his forearms together in front of him instead.  His hands burned as circulation was reintroduced to the ends of his fingers. 

Lance tried to count how many people he was dealing with, but they were constantly moving around and leaving and coming back in, and his head was spinning too much to get past the number four.  But one thing he did know, the ugly guy was always around.

His face was covered with facial hair and his eyes were a hard and cold brown.  When he talked Lance could smell his breath and it was a solid effort to not retch.  The smell of his previous sick was already starting to get to him, but with all the other bodies and unwashed mouths breathing, the air was rank.

“Now that there’s hope for your recovery, what do you say?”

Lance thought for a moment and couldn’t think of a single thing to say other than, “tooh…psst..”

Smack!

“Sorry,” the man said kindly but with a warning, “i didn’t catch that?”

Lances ears rang and he held his breath.  What was going on?  

“..i..i don’..know..?”  Lance swallowed hard as the man gabbed a handful of his hair and jerked his head back.

“you say ‘thank you’.  We saved you.  You owe us.  Kevin thought he’d raise the price!  You were supposed to be sold to us a long time ago, then that silly bastard went and got thrown into prison for really stupid trumped up charges.  Did you know that?  Did you know why your old man was in prison?”

Lance knew better than anyone why his dad was in prison; He had put him there.

“Oh yeah, the authorities fished him out of a ditch last week.  Sooner than i would have hopped, but they don’t know where we are or they would’ve come by now.  Jamie over there says you got a lot of high end friends looking for you.  So high end that two of them aren’t even registered anywhere.  who might they be?”

Lance scowled.  who might they be?  

“Well…” Lance said slowly, “if you’re talking about the cyborg, he’s registered.  He just doesn’t have fingerprints on his right hand anymore.  And if you’re talking about the really short one, its rude to think Pidge is special just because of her height-”

Smack!

“Next time will be a closed fist,” the man said, “We’re talking about the white haired girl and the orange haired man.  We caught a glimpse of them leaving the hospital after we beat the livin’ daylights out of your friends.  who are they?”

“…Aliens,” Lance said and laughed.  the fist hit with solid accuracy and Lance spat out a tooth, “…i liked that one…”

“Let’s try a different angle,” the man said grabbing another chair and sitting right in front of Lance, “You are going to tell me about all your friends, the ones you went missing with.  Let’s start with those.”

“Mmmm…why?” Lance couldn’t fathom why these guys would need to know.  Wasn’t he here because his papa wanted to get revenge because mom remarried and humiliated him?  This wasn’t making any sense!

“Monroe,” the man gestured to a guy leaning against the wall.  Monroe walked over and took out a knife.  Making a small cut on Lances shoulder, he took one step back

“Every time you say something other than the answer i want, that cut is going to get deeper and deeper until your arm comes off completely.  Now, tell me about your friends.”

“Rrrrrriiiight,” Lance mouth was a lot more dry than it had been, “ummm…well…two are short…and two are tall?  um…i don’t know…what you want to know…”

The man nodded to Monroe who grabbed Lances arm again.  Lance gritted his teeth as he was sliced in the same spot.  He had to think.

He didn’t want to think.

He had to find out what they wanted.

He had to keep what they wanted from them.

He wanted to sleep…

Smack!

“Talk.”

“Shiro…is awesome,” Lance said slowly,  he was shaking and he didn’t want that to impede his speech and make Monroe cut him again, “he…he’s a really good flyer…pilot.  A true hero, ya know?  Umm…Keith is really good too…but i hate him, so…yeah…umm…Hunk cooks and is really good with, ya know, his hands, and things….Pidge is…well…how do i explain pidge…”

“So this Shiro guy is the most dangerous?”  the man asked.

“Shiro?” Lance blinked and laughed a little, “the guy is a teddy bear…he’ll offer you a hand before a weapon…”

“Who is the most dangerous?”

“Danger…Dangerous…” Lance racked his brains, “…Pidge…she’s the meanest.  could kill you with a look…Haha! She once..she once took on, a large guy…had to be about five times her size…hahaha, she…she really awesome…Bedivere…definitely Bedivere…”

“The second most dangerous?” the man asked slapping him again.

“Umm….Hunk…yeah…Hunk is a cruel guy, but more of a follower, ya know?  Kind of like Monroe here.  When he’s with Pidge they’re a complete monster.  But they’re both weakest when they’re with Shiro…because he’s so nice he kinda just rubs off on everyone else…”

“He’s the liability?”

“He was tortured and his arm was cut off, what do you think,” Lance said and pulled his arms closer to his body and away from Monroe.  Talking was becoming a little easier again, but he was still slurring and his shaking hadn’t stopping.  He hopped he wasn’t giving anything away.  He hoped they believed everything.

“Good,” the man grinned, “Monroe, make sure this brat-“

There was a banging on the door and Ugly jerked hi head at one of the men by the wall.  The man stood and left to see who was upstairs.

There was a high pitched scream and a blast, then heavy foot falls moving toward the back and near the basement door.  Guns were drawn, but not one was prepared for the arrival of a large purple alien.


	15. Chapter 15

Shiro and Pidge walked into the Mcclain home without knocking.  The last time they’d knocked, Layla had ranted at them for not treating it like their own house.  It still felt odd just walking in, but it was also slowly becoming normal.  

“Any news?” Layla asked, and Shiro had to shake his head.  

“We offered a healing pod to Paul, but he turned us down,” Pidge said, “said it might be safer if he just stayed put.”

“That’s my Paul,” she grinned, “he knows when to stay out of the way.  But I am keeping a sharp eye on him.  You look for Lance, and i’ll make sure Paul stays where he is supposed to…the moment he’s off morphine he’ll want to go out hunting himself.”

“He’s still on morphine?”

“The bullet nicked his intestine.  Its going to take a lot longer to heal and the doctors say another surgery might be necessary.”  

“Yuck,” Pidge wrinkled her nose as she flopped down on the couch, “I’m sorry, but this is why i work with computers.”

“Is Victoria doing ok?”

“She’s…having fun,” Shiro allowed himself to grin, “She’s with Allura and Coran tonight.  hunk is also staying with them.  We’ve done almost everything short of kicking in everyones door…i’m really sorry, Layla.”

She reached up and patted his cheek, “the twins have always been the lucky ones in our family.  It was a miracle they were born as healthy as they were, it was a miracle that they healed as fully as they did when they were children, and its about time we get another miracle.”

()

They were careful, Lance gave them that. 

The Galra stood just by the bottom step, his own weapon pointed forward.

“I was told,” the Galra said slowly, “by my subordinate, that he saw someone take the blue paladin in here.  I see that it is true.”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“My captain wants the blue paladin.”

“What’s a ‘blue paladin’?”

The galra snorted, “lesser life forms, THAT is THE blue paladin, and my Captain demands he be handed over!”

Lance felt a shiver.  Which was worse: The Cartel or the Galra?

“We own this brat, you think we’re going to hand him over so easily?”

“You own him?”  The Galra considered this statement, “Then you wouldn’t mind if I bought him from you?”

“Che,” Lance muttered under his breath and Monroe smacked him.

“Just who…what are you?!”

“Finally,” Lance muttered and got smacked again.

“That is none of your concern, human.  I am after the paladins, and I grow weary of this conversation.  Either state what you want in return, or I kill you all to get what I want.  After this one, I have the others to collect.”

“I doubt you have the benjamins to cover the cost this brat is worth,” Ugly snapped, “This kid can move so quietly, you would never know your throat was slit till it was too late.  He can-“

“-he can systematically take down our defenses and cover for his comrades at a long distance, yes, I am aware of this paladins skill set, what I want is to make sure its never used against us again.”

“What do you have that you’re willing to …trade?” Ugly eyed the weapon in the galras hands.  Noticing the look, the galra grinned.

“We have 500 of these in stock on our ship.  I shall go speak with my captain about a possible trade, will that do?”

“Get me 1000 of those and I’ll see if I can’t help you get the others as well,” Ugly said and held out a hand to shake.  But the Galra turned and left.

()

Victoria had refused to leave the hangar were Blue was.  She was cordial with Coran, and blatantly rude with Allura.  The princess had dropped all presences and was starting to argue back.

“You are insufferable!”

“Oooo, big word there Guin, are you sure you can handle it?”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!  I  am Princess Allura!  ALLURA!”

“Aaaaand we’re your only hope, got it,” vik rolled her eyes.  

“I looked up this…Guinevere person and we are NOTHING alike!  I’m not married!  And I don’t even like anyone!”

“Everything just went right over your head,” Vik sighed and posed as if she were on stage, “Oh the fair maid Guinevere!  Who loves two men and stands back while one is sentenced to death because she couldn’t make up her mind. Wo unto Guinevere who could not lift her own two hands and deal with her own problems.  Instead of being happy with what she had she sought out what should not have been hers.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

“IT MEANS YOU DIDN’T LET LANCE COME HOME!” Vik roared getting in Alluras face, “Lance is MY brother!  MY BLOOD!  You played to their heart strings and got them to work for you, but you didn’t even have the DECENCY to ASK!”

Allura stammered for a moment, but found her words quickly enough, “This is a war!  There was no time for any of our own desires!  We were being attacked!  Whole worlds were dying!  there wasn’t any time to do anything but act!”

Vik folded her arms and stared at Allura with a fierce intensity.  not sure how she should react, Allura did the same.

“That’s what Lance said,” Vik muttered, “still doesn’t mean i’m not pissed off about it.  He got upset when I refereed to you as Guinevere…seems he actually thinks highly of you….which pisses me off even more.”

“I wasn’t even part of that conversation!”

“Whatever,” Vik took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly, “Fine.  I’ll work with you, but its too late to change your name in my head.”

“…right…of course it is.”

()

His hands were just starting to go back down to their original size when they brought out the zip ties again.  they shoved a wad of cloth in his mouth before taping it shut.  What they didn’t realize was that when they cut his legs free, he wasn’t able to walk.  Both feet were swollen and both legs were numb from sitting for over a week.  

They had tried to get him to stand and move, but he’d just collapsed, his legs cramping and his feet burning.  

Not one to delay what he’d been told to do, Monroe reached down and grabbed a fist full of Lance hair and began to drag him across the floor and up the stairs.  

Lance blinked the tears from his eyes as he looked around the upstairs and actually cried out.

It was Keiths place!

He didn’t know Keith’s place had a basement…

The wall that had everything all about the cave with the lions in it was still behind a sheet on the wall!  the thugs had no idea!  Lance looked around and sure enough, Pidges old note book was on the floor by the couch!  

As Monroe dragged him out the front door Lance almost laughed.  If he could just get the feeling back in his legs, he could book it to his lion in no time!

“Are you going to take the car?”

“What and risk being late?” Monroe laughed and walked up to Keiths speeder, “I’m sure our trading partners would respect us more if we arrived in style.”

Keith is gonna kill you… Lance thought as Monroe pulled him across the front.  Lance tried to back off by squirming a little, but the man was larger and stronger.  Soon they were speeding across the desert into the canyon maze.  

()

The sun was setting and the light was in Lances eyes as Monroe lifted him from the Speeder.  

Shoving him backwards Monroe said, “here, this is what you wanted right?”

Lance looked up as hands grabbed his shoulders, and his heart stopped.  He had been trying to tell himself that all this wasn’t real, that he was slowly going insane from hunger and thirst and all this was his brain slowly shutting down.

A Galra stood looking down at him.  The alien then lifted his arm and a holographic picture of each paladin appeared.  

Lance quickly turned his face down and away.  But it was useless as the Galra spun him around and grabbed his head, forcing his face upward.

“Yes,” the Galra finally spoke and tossed a bag to the ground, “this is one of the humans we are after.  Get the others and you can have all the weapons you want.”

Ugly wasn’t going to be happy, thought Lance.

“That wasn’t the deal, but, I’ll tell Boss you said so,” Monroe nodded, “can i ask what you’re gonna do with the brats?”

“That’s our business,” the Galra replied, “i suggest you leave.  Now.”

Monroe shrugged and left with his bag of newly acquired weapons.

()

The Galra dragged him further into the canyon.  Lance was still trying to figure out how the Galra had been able to land without being noticed by the garrison…or them, for that matter!  What was the use of a Galra detection system if it didn’t detect the Galra!?

And then Lance saw the problem.

A small Galra carrier ship sat skewed between a divot in the canyon wall.  They had crashed.  Their supplies were piled neatly to one side of their makeshift camp grounds and Lance couldn’t help but notice the large amount of weapons of all shapes and sizes.

It would be Earths luck that not only did the Galra crash into it, but it was a supply ship full of weapons.

wonderful.

Three other Galra came forward.

“Captain Bok, the ship is ready to be lifted and an area has been cleared.”

“Good,” the captain shoved Lance at the others, “Keep an eye on the prisoner.  Ketak, you come with me.”

()

“Excuse me, sir?”

Shiro stood at the checkout line of a Dillan’s.  Layla had asked him to pick up some items for dinner tomorrow night. The guy behind him tapped his shoulder.  He was a smaller man, clean shaven, but with a bushy mustache.  

“You’re the guy that’s been going around asking about that missing kid?”

“Yes,” Shiro couldn’t believe his luck, “Do you know anything?”

“I just noticed something…hinky, out in the canyon while i was gathering rocks for my collection.”

“What did you see?”

“More like i heard something,” the man sighed, “I can’t say i understood a lot, but if you haven’t found that kid yet, i’d say the canyon is a good place to look next.  I know of many people who get lost out there.”

“It is kind of a maze,” Shiro said, thinking.  Lance was fully capable of escaping on his own, but Shiro wouldn’t put it past the boy to get lost, “Thank you so much for the tip.”

“Of course,” the man said nodding, “Children are our greatest treasures.”

()

Lance shivered in the night time cold.  The Captain had been able to land the ship and three of them were working on repairs.  That left Lance with only one guard.

He was sore, but he felt better than he had the day before.  All he had to do was pay attention and make use of every opportunity.

Lance laughed and earned a kick.

Even he knew he couldn’t do it anymore.  He used to be able to; that much he could remember.  In fact he remembered a little more than what he’d told everyone else.  But it made them feel better that he didn’t.

If he really thought about it, he could remember the feeling of blood pooling in his hands.  He could remember the smell of a persons last breath, and remembered thinking how odd it was that it smelled different from all the others.

“We’ve got our systems working,” Ketak said walking over, “so you can put him in the store room for now.”

“Yes Sir,” the Galra saluted and picked Lance up by the back of his shirt.  The boy stumbled along, still trying to work out how his legs were supposed to work.  If he was going to escape, it needed to be now.

Lance twisted and pretended to fall.  The Galra let go for a split second to get a better grip, but Lance took that time and pushed off.  His feet were screaming at him, but he didn’t stop.  He could hear them running after him, but he allowed fear to take over and his adrenaline kicked in.  

then the rock wall he was running along side of exploded.  He tripped and fell for real this time, skinning every piece of available flesh on his left side.  His right side burning from being so close to the explosion. 

His ears ringing, he tried to stand and run again.

But his body had reached its limit.


	16. Chapter 16

“Oh, dear, Shiro,” Pidge said robotically, “do you ever think we will find him here?  In this canyon?  That we have entered without our weapons?!”

“A very good question, Pidge,” Hunk said loudly and just as robotically, “i would like to know that answer too!”

it was early the next morning and they were deep into the canyon.  This was Keiths back yard and after a few days in the healing pod he was eager to play tour guide.  However, Hunk and Pidge had been like this since the night before when Shiro had come back overjoyed with the tip he had gotten.  

Needless to say he’d been crushed when Pidge and Victoria had told him that the tip sounded more like a set up.  They had their bayards in their suits of armor, but hopefully these guys didn’t know that.

Keith lead them around a corner.  If there was going to be an ambush, this is the place he’d plan it.  And sure enough, something out of the ordinary was parked directly in their path.

“My Speeder…” Keith hissed, quickly walking up to it even though he knew also that it was a trap, “If they scratched it, i swear…”

The sound of weapons being drawn echoed off the acoustic rocks and hunks hands instinctively went up in the air.  Shiro and the others braced themselves as their exits were all blocked off.  

A quick glance around reveled that their enemies were holding earth guns and Galra weapons.

wait…

“How the hay did you get those?!” Pidge shouted, “that’s-”

a laser shot close to her feet.  She backed up and shut her mouth.

“If you come quietly, you’ll find out,” said a large man with heavy facial hair, “you do want to see your friend again, right?”

“He’s alive?”

“Don’ know,” the man shrugged, “he’s been off my hands since yesterday.  But I can show you where we dropped him off.”

“This is getting weird…and creepy,” Hunk whispered, “its Weireepy…or creird…”

“Get on the ground,” the man said, clearly enjoying the fact that he had the upper hand, “or we open fire.”

“I don’t like your tone,” Pidge said, hands on her hips, “how about a please?”

The mans eyes lingered on her as if evaluating her from head to toe.  She shuddered and swallowed a gag.

“Please,” the man said, grinning and showing teeth that were almost brown.

“Fine,” Pidge wrinkled her nose, “but you personally don’t touch me.”

()

Lance couldn’t remember a time in his life where breathing was this hard.  In fact, he was about…80-something percent sure breathing wasn’t ever supposed to be this hard.  

Was he going to die?

better yet-

was he bothered if he was?

No one really wants to die, but it would be nice to not be in pain anymore.  He could also avoid facing the others with all that awkwardness that was bound to come.  He dreaded their questions, but he dreaded the looks they’d give him more.

but then again, Vik and everyone would be sad and mom would blame herself.  That was a no go.  this situation was stupid, and Lance had hoped to go down fighting at least, not lying on a store room floor.  And the situation was really stupid.

there were three pros and three cons…Lance sighed and wondered again if he was going to die.

()

“How did you manage to get all four?” Bok asked as he watched the paladins being shoved to the ground in front of him.

“Its all in how you manipulate the situation,” the bearded man said proudly, “Children are our greatest treasures, after all.  Most humans will do anything for a child.”

“I see,” Bok watched the paladins surprised expressions and grinned, “Zarkon will be most pleased.  You may have just saved yourself when he comes to rule over your pathetic planet.”

“We’re a helping lot, aren’t we fellas?” the rest nodded and chuckled, “but that doesn’t mean we do anything for free.  You get these guys for what you promised.”

“Of course,” Bok nodded to the two Galra behind him, “after we leave you can go into that area and find your payment.”

“No, no,” the man laughed, “that’s not how it works.  You bring the payment here.  This is where we exchange goods for goods.”

Boks face twitched slightly.  He would love to show this pathetic human a thing or two, but it would interfere with everything else he had planed.  

“Ketak, Go bring these worms their payment.”

“Yes sir.”

As Ketak left Bok walked up to the Paladins, looking them over.  

“Is Lance alive?” Shiro asked as Bok hovered over him.

“Who?”  Bok made a show of thinking about it, “Oh, you mean the blue paladin.  yes, he’s alive.  I doubt he’ll survive the journey back to Emperor Zarkons main ship, but the four of you will just have to do.”

“The foolish paladin tried to escape last night,” the other Galra grinned, “my shot brought him to heel.”

“is that so,” Shiro activated his arm and ripped through the zip ties.  faster than anyone could react he’d cut Keiths bonds and then darted forward and cut down the grinning Galra.  By then guns were drawn and Bok was cursing his horrible luck.

Keith released Pidge and Hunk the three of them taking out their bayards.

“You didn’t disarm them?!” Bok roared.

“How was I to know about that?!” the man shook his head.  they were at another stand still; this time both sides had weapons out and cocked.  

Hunk cleared his throat, “i don’t like awkward silences.”

And he fired.  Multiple shots cascading everywhere.  the gang screamed and dispersed.  

When the dust settled Pidge elbowed him while trying to hack up a lung.  

“Really?”

“Sorry,” he shrugged, “I was angry and forgot that this might have a different effect when not on a Galra ship….”

“You got angry?!”

“Remind me to never piss you off,” Keith muttered, his heart was still bounding in his throat.  Shiro was picking himself up as was Bok and a few others.  

“I wouldn’t try anything like that again,” Ketak said behind them.  He was carrying a large box and behind him was another Galra, holding a gun to Lances head.  He was unconscious and it was now painfully clear what Bok had meant when he’d said he might not survive the trip.

the Galra walked over and dropped the box in front of the bearded man.

“This is your payment, I took a few back when i realized you had not disarmed them.  You’re lucky to be getting any at all.”

“Luck has always been my forte,” he coughed, “Monroe, you and Vega get this box to the van….give you his hand before a weapon…that bastard…”

“If you don’t want the blue paladin to die immediately, then you will drop your weapons,” Bok said, “and you, black paladin, will remove your arm.”

As Shiro began to detach his arm slowly, a gang member fell.  half of his head blasted off.

It took a moment for everyone to react to it.  the bearded man looked up at the canyon walls and didn’t see anyone.  Bok looked at the paladins only to see that they were just as confused.

three more gang members fell.

Bok lifted his energy shield and rounded on the boss.

“You did not say they had back up!”

“You didn’t tell me there were only four of you,” he bit back, “what happened to that army you were bragging about just a few days ago?!”

the invisible shooter continued to pick off the gang members and the Galra holding Lance one by one until only the boss and Monroe were left, hidden behind the Galra captain and his shield.

“Coward!” Bok yelled, “show yourself!”

“How rude!”

Lance slid into sight.

The paladins had to blink.  They knew it was victoria.  They knew that, but she spoke, walked, moved, and if they hadn’t known before hand, they would have sold shiros arm knowing that that was Lance!  She was not only wearing his armor, but she had covered her face in dirt to hide any of her more feminine features.

“Wh-what is the meaning of this?!” Bok looked from his prisoner to the whole and healthy paladin in the blue armor, carrying the blue bayard.  

“You guys nabbed the wrong twin,” Victoria said, “now that i’m here, i’ll have my sister back, please.”

“Liar,” the bearded man growled at her, “you’re the twin, we have the right one.”

vik laughed, “we’re BOTH twins, Robert.  Though i have to say thank you for shooting that horrible excuse of a father.  But that won’t save you.  I don’t take lightly anyone who hits my other half.”

“You really are the girl,” Robert sneered, “only the girl would know my name.”

“You sure?” Vik asked, “or did you forget the little surprise i left in your car before we left Cuba?  Were not my fingerprints all over it?  Doesn’t it make sense that i was only pretending to forget everything so you guys would leave us alone?”

Through the tan and the beard, Robert went very pale.  vik continued.

“though i have to say, whoever you got to reconstruct your face did a marvelous job.  I could almost believe that the facial hair is real!”

She grinned and Bok decided to cut in.

“I don’t care,” he said, “that one is going to die soon…if, that is, you don’t surrender.”

Bok was looking at the solution to his problem.  The real blue paladin or no, so long as he was able to present what looked like all five paladins to Zarkon, that promotion was all his!

“Yeah?”  Vik laughed, “you sure about that?”

An engine revved and Keith and Pidge disappeared with Lance on his Speeder.  While Vik had kept their attention, it had allowed them to grab their teammate and escape.

“Oops,” Vik covered her mouth with the tips of her fingers and batted her eyes, “i guess you all forgot you have no back up.  That’s a silly thing to forget.”

An explosion went off farther away.  This time it was Bok who went pale.

“Oh yeah,” Vik said with a shrug, “You also don’t have a ship, or weapons…or really anything that was left over there.  That’s why i was late.  I woulda been here sooner, but i was really busy setting up all those explosives that i made myself. Not to brag, but i’m really good at anything that produces chaos.”

“If you surrender now,” Shiro said, “we’ll take you to the garrison and let them deal with you.”

“Damn…”  Robert snorted raising his hands, “that bastard brat…he lied just enough to let you get the drop on us.”

Bok looked around and knew he was out numbered.  Knew he would die if he tried to win.  

All his careful planning had slipped through his fingers.

()

shiro and hunk escorted their new prisoners to the garrison and Victoria made her way beck to the castle.  On her way she met up with Allura.

“That was very nice shooting,” Vik said grinning at her new friend.  

“I see you and Lance share the same talent,” Allura said spinning her own weapon in her hands, “Nice idea, pinning them between the two of us.”

“I gambled that you could shoot,” Vik shrugged, “looks like i drew aces.”

()

Pidge was leaning against the healing pod with her computer when they got back to the castle.  Victoria thanked Pidge and Keith for being able to think without being told what to do.  She hadn’t meant it so sound condescending, but it had sounded that way.

“I don’t know why i have to keep telling you,” Pidge snapped, “we’d do anything for each other.  We’re not stupid and we don’t want to be thanked by you.”

“Gee, Bedivere, tell me how you really feel,” Vik said and Keith grimaced at the phrase.  The same phrase Lance had snapped at him when they’d fought.  

“What is wrong with you?!” Pidge stood, “Allura is Allura, and i’m Pidge!  Get it?”

“Actually you’re Katie, but you’re code name is Bedivere.”

“WHO DECIDED THAT?!”

“Lance did.”

Pidge froze and Vik continued.

“I’m making an executive choice and will tell you a little of our code.  We use Arthurian characters and then make up our own story around it.  Sometimes we just give them a general role in a fantasy story like papa was either ‘the evil king’ or ‘the evil warlock’ or ‘the beast’.   I came up with Guinevere for Allura because he said you guys found a princess and i was pissed at her.  But he was the one who told me your code names.”

“this i got to hear,” Keith said folding his arms.

“He didn’t really get around to telling me the whole story or anything,” Vik shrugged, “So the code isn’t up to date.  Its what we’ve always done since we can remember.  That way we could speak in front of people and they wouldn’t know what we were talking about.  We could tell each other everything and papa, or Aunt Rose, or anyone would just think we were making up stories like silly children.”

She grinned at the pod holding her brother.

“Its our language,” she shrugged, “The story of Shalott had the Lady breaking the rules at the cost of a curse to see Lancelot.  You see, I was kept in my room and told not to leave.  Papa would take Lance out and they would sometimes be gone for days!  I really wanted to see my brother…so I took a bat and I smashed the mirror, just like how in the story, when Shalott was cursed the mirror cracked on its own.  I was the one who told the authorities about papa.  It was my idea to break that mirror.  that life of ‘this is just the way it is’.  My curse is to never be able to do anything physical for more than a few minutes without needing to be hospitalized, and uncontrollable impulses.  But I’m fine with that.  Because now my Lancelot doesn’t have to be a murderer and can be a Knight.  But, seriously, on a separate note, these outfits need to change.  This is not at all comfortable.  The castle could use a new coat of paint and there is this smell that-”

Coran sighed and put a hand on Viks shoulder, “he will be fine,” he said, “we were able to get him in the healing pod in time.  It may take a while, but rambling isn’t going to make it go faster.”

Everyone stared at Coran.  since when did he become the twin expert?  vik stared at him for a moment and then laughed.  But it was a sad attempt to hide the tears that were now making their way down her face.


	17. Chapter 17

There were a lot of tears.  More than the paladins were ok with.  Between Victoria and her mother they didn’t feel like they needed to cry, even though Hunk did shed a few in relief.  the younger kids, behind their parents back, asked for details letting them know that they already knew more than everyone had thought.  

“Can i see him?” Layla asked.

“He’s healing right now,” Allura said, “and he doesn’t like the healing pods that much, so i’m sure he would prefer it if you didn’t see him just yet.”

That and you could still see a lot of the damage his face had taken through the barrier.  Lance would hate them forever if they let his mother see him like that.

“Such a vain child,” she said happily, “so long as you are positive that he is just fine.”

“Absolutely,” Shiro said nodding, “he’ll be good as new.”

“Mom, i’m starved,” Vik whined, “if you don’t cook something i will.”

“And you!” She rounded on Vik who was still wearing Lances armor, “you go to your room this instant and i don’t want to see your face till i bring you something to eat young lady.  Dr. Rand will be here in an hour to make sure you haven’t ruined your immune system even more!”

Vik complained loudly, and her mother had to give her a shove to get her to start moving towards the stairs.

“You had your adventure, now its time to face reality,” Layla sighed, “i know you’re hurting more than you’re letting on, so scoot.”

“I’ll help you up the stairs,” Marco said grabbing her arm.

“Thanks bud,” Vik rubbed his head and they headed up the stairs, “could you stay with me till dinner is ready?”

“I have homework, but i’ll do it in your room,” he said, “then you can help me with math.”

“Yuck, i hate math, Pidge or hunk would be better.”

“Want me to stay with you or not?”

“Right, sorry, sorry..”

“Now Mrs. Layla,” Hunk said, “You go ahead and take a seat and let me do the cooking to night.”

After a moment of shock, she laughed in his face.

“Not on your life my child,” she said patting his cheek, “You all found my boy and I can make you something to eat.  If you really want to, then you can help tomorrow night.  But tonight is my pleasure.”

()

Three weeks.

In that time the garrison was able to cover any oddities that the public had witnessed and a special isolated prison was set up for the Galra.  The two surviving gang members were also put into isolated cells to keep what they knew quiet.  

when Rand finally let Victoria off mandatory bed rest, she moved into the Castle.  Allura mentioned to her how rude this was, but Vik just stuck her tongue out and did as she pleased.  She found Lances old room and the box that was in it.

It was full of odd bits and ends.  there was a rock from every planet they’d landed on for Marco and a toy of some kind for Milo.  There was a dress that looked like it would fit Mary and what looked like a necklace for mom.  There was a long knife that no doubt was going to be given to dad who collected odd knives. 

But that was all that was in the box.  Vik couldn’t find anything that Lance would give her.  Not that she needed anything, but it sucked that she could label what he’d give everyone else and that was it.

Still, she put the box to one side and didn’t tell the family about it.  This was something Lance would give them and she didn’t have the right to take that away from him.

She walked, even though she wanted to run, down to were the pods were and sat by him. He was already looking a ton better.  She took pictures and sent them to her mom so she could see that Lance was alright. 

So during the day she stayed with Lance and at night she said good night and slept in his room.  Pidge and Hunk would keep her company on most days, but the garrison was demanding their presence and a complete explanation of their time in space.

Occasionally the seven of them would hang out in the pod room and play a game of cards or recount more personal stories about their adventures to Vik.  

“Oh man,” Hunk said stumbling in one of those few times all of them were there, “Iverson and Schmit were there today!”

“What needed ‘clarifying’ this time?” Pidge asked with sympathy.  True to Lances predictions, Hunk was not doing well under pressure.

“It was all about the balmera and how that worked.”

“I could have gone with you,” Allura said, “Or Coran.  We are more than willing to help.”

“You can help by not advertising that you’re here,” Shiro said, “give the countries of this world time to adjust to the idea slowly and i promise when it comes time for you two to make a grand appearance, the world will not explode.”

“…the world will explode if-”

“its an expression,” Pidge said, “but then again, it could be literal if the right countries get pissed off enough.”

“To Diplomacy,” Vik said raising an imaginary glass, “may we be able to get crap done without it.”

“Diplomacy is a wonderful-”

“Allura,” Pidge patted the princess on the arm, “its another expression.  Anyway, Hunk, you didn’t tell Schmit all about your girlfriend, did you?  I can only imagine how that conversation went.”

“for the last time, Pidge, Shey is NOT my girlfriend.  She’s just a nice person.  and no, i did not tell them ALL about Shey.  I told them what they needed to know and left it at that…i think.  Ok, i may have rambled a bit about the robeast and the balmera itself because they were so awesome, but that’s about it.”

“oh,” Pidge shrugged, “I was just thinking it probably would have got you out of there faster if you HAD just rambled on about Shey.  Then they would have thought that you had nothing left to tell.”

“…that is deceptively brilliant,” Hunk said, “I’ll have to keep that in mind for next time.”

That’s when the pod opened with a hiss and Vik was on her feet in a split second.

“Lancelot!”

He fell into her open arms and she held him in a bear hug.  The team also gathering around for a hug.  

“Sh…sh…”

Vik pulled back a little and Lance frowned at her. 

She frowned back.

He grinned.

She grinned.

“Shshsh?”  

Vik felt a lump in her throat and nodded, “Ye-yeah, Lancelot, its me.  You ok?”

But her question went unanswered as he looked around at everyone else.  His face going completely blank.

Shiro beamed, “Its good that you’re ok.  How about we get you something to eat-why are you looking at me like that?”

Lance and pulled his sister in between him and the others until he was completely blocked by her.    

“Lance you ok?” Pidge asked, “You’re not gonna go all shy and gross on us now after everything we’ve been through together!”

Lance moved ever so slightly to spoke in Viks ear.  the team Watched as Vik bit her lip.

“So…”  Vik said, “yeah, if my translation is correct…he doesn’t recognize any of you.”

“WHAT?!” Yelled Allura, Shiro, and Hunk at the same time Pidge and Keith yelled, “BULLSHIT!”

“Translation?” Coran asked.

“Um,” She looked back at Lance who was still hiding behind her, “I’ll explain things to you guys later.  Right now I have to explain things to him.”

()

“I am so sick of hospitals,” Layla sighed, “i’m beginning to really hate the smell.”

she and the others sat in the waiting room like they had before.  she was now at the point where her jacket was unraveling itself as she twisted the end of it.  Victoria was in the doctors office with Lance, who refused to be separated from her.

“But his body is healthy?” she asked for the hundredth time.

“Yes,” Pidge said, it was her turn to answer, “anyone who can escape a nano-second scan is perfectly fine.”

They hated to admit it, but this was a very different Lance.  He only smiled at victoria and even after she told him they were his friends all he did was stop hiding behind his sister.  He only spoke to Vik and his speech consisted of only short, one syllable, unintelligible sounds.  Surprisingly, Vik understood everything.  

They had tried to scan him and figure out what was wrong, but he refused to hold still and he flipped them off more than once.

“All he said was ‘Vv-kch’,” Keith had exclaimed, “How does that translate into ‘Don’t touch me jerk-face’?!”

Vik and Lance had rolled their eyes.  

“We speak five different languages,” Vik said, “and it helps that we’re the same type of person.”

“What type is that?”

“The type to easily get annoyed with you,” Vik said with a wide grin and Lance chuckled.

“Shiro!”

“We just need to figure out how we can help,” Shiro said, “Lance, please let us help?”

“Che,” Lance gave him the most disgusted look.

“How about we go talk to a doctor?” Vik asked taking his hand, “Dr Rand is sure to know someone who can tell us why you don’t remember your friends.”

“Ts, m.”

“Yes, Dr Rand is the one that comes to our house all the time.”

“Mmm, Mm Sh?”

“Mom knows i’m here,” vik answered, “You do remember that mom got remarried do you?”

Lance gave her a long-suffering look.

“Just checking,” she shrugged.

“But if we’re going to go to the hospital, then we should be going soon,” Hunk said, “I can go and get Mrs. Layla.”

“I’ll call Dr Rand and see who he recommends,” Pidge said and added with a mutter, “I should get that guy on speed dial…”

Lance leaned over and spoke to Victoria, which only fueled Keiths assumption that he was faking all of this.  The whole thing would be just what he would do to escape having to explain himself to them.  And with Victoria and everyone else coddling him, of course it just made it that much easier to fake it!

Keith still tapped his food moodily as they sat in the waiting room while Lance got his psych evaluation.  There had to be a way to call him out on his BS.  Or would it be better for him to tell them himself?  Keith wasn’t heartless enough to force Lance into a situation that would hurt him anymore, but GADS THIS WAS ANNOYING!

“I got here as quickly as i could,” Paul said arriving in hospital gown and bathrobe.  They stared at him, not really expecting him to show up.  The psychiatric hospital was across the street from the main hospital, and how he’d been able to dodge the nurses was anyone’s guess.  

“What in the name of all the saints are you doing up and about!”  Layla shot up to her feet, and when he started to answer he couldn’t because she was talking over him.  He laughed and kissed her cheek, and then helped her to sit back down as he sat next to her.  He let her go on until she ran out of things to say.

“Now, dear,” he said patting her hands, “I am perfectly fine walking here.  I really did walk.  The doctors said that walking around will help so long as i’m not running or trying to do acrobatics.”

“There it is,” Pidge snapped her fingers, “there’s Lances sense of humor!”

“Knew we had to run into it some time,” Hunk nodded.

Paul chuckled and looked pleased.

()

“He said ‘i have no idea who they are, but i remember everything else’,” Victoria translated.  the psychiatrist, Dr. Grey, sighed.

“I’m not convinced this is what he is actually saying,” he said, “will you please let him write down his answer?”

“Why?  I can tell you what he’s saying much faster and then we can go home,” she said, “Lance hasn’t been home in a long time.  He needs to be home.”

“Please let him answer for himself,” Grey sighed.  Lance laughed and used his pen to scribble on his sisters hand.  Looking down at what he wrote, Vic laughed as well.

“May I ask about the joke?”

The twins looked at each other and roared, kicking their legs up as they laughed.  the doctor waited patiently.  He didn’t mind.  From the list of injuries and the history that was provided to him by Rand and the childrens parents, he was surprised they could smile at all.

“He-” Vic gasped, “he said ‘so much for historical research’!”

“This…is funny?” Grey asked.

“Yup,” she chuckled and Lance nodded.

“why?”

“You answer this one Lance,” Vic sighed laying down on the couch and putting her legs on his lap.  Lance picked up the note pad the doc had given him and wrote down:

_“because we said so.”_


	18. Chapter 18

“Freedom!” Vik shouted as they appeared in the waiting room.  Lance spied Paul and smiled before suddenly going pale.  He walked over and plucked at his hospital robe.

“I’m perfectly fine,” Paul grinned and slowly stood, “see?”

Lance tugged on it again and looked like he was about to cry.

“Its not your fault,” Hunk said quickly, “really it wasn’t.”

“That’s right,” Paul brought Lance in for a hug, patting his head, “You’re a good boy.  A good, good boy.”

“Doc says we should see him twice a week,” ViK said, “any less and it wouldn’t help and any more and he’d be needing psychiatric help.”  

“So you did your job,” Paul grinned as Layla started on another long rant in Spanish.  ViK responded in kind and made Layla all the more exasperated.

The paladins watched and Pidge leaned over to Keith, “You wouldn’t happen to have popcorn, would you?”

“No,” he said shortly.

“Its like a Spanish soap opera combined with a Hallmark movie,” Hunk said and Shiro nodded.

“Still, we got to figure out what we’re going to do,” Keith sighed, “Allura may not say it out loud, but you can tell shes super ansy.  we need to go.”

“We still have to wait and get Lance back to…well…a type of normal,” Pidge said, “he does pilot the blue lion. we can’t just leave him behind.”

“Keith?” Shiro leaned forward, “you ok?”

“Look,” Keith lowered his voice, “Lance has always been the one who wanted to go home the most; what makes you think he’s not faking this so he doesn’t have to leave again?  I say we just find someone else to pilot Blue.”

“Wow…”

“That’s cold, Keith, even for you.”

“Guys, look at them,” keith hissed, “can you honestly feel good about taking him away from his family right now?”

“well, it wont be right now,” Hunk said, “we still have a ton of things to straighten out with the garrison.”

“Keith,” Shiro patted his shoulder, “you’re hearts in the right place, but we can’t make that choice for him.  let’s get his memory all sorted out and he can make that choice.”

“But we don’t have that kind of time,” Keith snapped, “Galra already landed here, which means this planet will be attacked any day now.  We need to push back the line of conflict away from home.”

“We will,” Shiro insisted, “Coran is keeping an eye out and Hunk and Pidge are helping the garrison build their own sensors and detectors.”

“Well, technically,” Hunk cut in, “all we’re doing is building better communication technology with the smaller balmera crystals we had.  The sensors are going to take a lot longer and a lot more work.”

“Hunk, that’s not what he was saying,” Pidge patted his knee, “he’s just trying to get Keith to chill.”

“I don’t need to chill,” Keith turned on her, “You guys are chill enough for everyone else!”

“Everything ok?” Paul asked walking over to them, “anything we can help you with?”

“Che,” Keith got up and walked away.  He was going to head back to the castle and wait for everyone to get their heads on straight.

()

“Get back.”

“What?!”

Allura glared at him, “Get back to that house and look after your team!”

“But we need to get ready to leave and-”

She shoved Keith backwards out of the castle while Coran waved goodbye.

 “We have everything covered over here,” she said, “if we need help, we will call.  Right now you need to go and support the team.  Now more than ever, you guys need to use this time to bond.  Spend time on your home planet and recharge.”

She shut the doors and left Keith standing out in the middle of the canyon.  Shiro had to have called her before he’d gotten there, that was the only explanation!  He’d seen her look tired and he knew she’d wanted to get going; so why was she suddenly all for staying here and twiddling their thumbs?!

()

Keith went home.

His home.

No doubt those jerks had trashed the place, since they had stolen his Speeder, but he hadn’t realized that they had _lived_ there.  the house reeked and made him stumble back down the front steps to gag.  The smell was so horrible!

Holding his breath and pulling up his shirt to cover his nose, he walked in to asses more of the damage.  

Surprisingly, the sheet covering his directions to the caves remained covered.  the front table was broken and the he’d have to burn the couch.  He looked at the floor and figured he’d be spending the whole time getting the burn marks from the cigarettes off and the desert mud wasn’t going to be coming out of the rug…ever.  The bathroom would have to be gutted and the kitchen made him sigh in despair.  The grout would have to be dug out and replaced.  Walking down the small hallway he passed the basement door and gagged again.  He wasn’t aware smells could be so strong and so awful.  He’d rather be drinking a pitcher of nunvil.

The lights were broken and so was the third step down.  These jerks had no respect for other peoples things!

()

“So yeah, doc said exposure to you all would help get his memory back in order. Its really only specific things he’s blocking out,” Victoria said, “that is if we can convince him that you guys really are friends…”

they were back at the house and Layla was talking with Lance in the kitchen.  vik had dragged everyone else upstairs into her room.  she hung a sign on the door knob that said ‘Enter Under Pain of Humiliation’.  

“Why isn’t he convinced yet?”  Hunk asked, “we’ve been here and all of you told him that we were!”

“Yeah…” Vik laughed a little, “we tricked him once before to get him to go on a field trip when i had the flu. It didn’t end well…”

“Once tricked, twice cautious,” Shiro sighed.  

“Its not like we were all that close anyway,” Pidge muttered.

“What do you mean by that,” Hunk was mortally offended, “after he got me almost suspended twice…well, we’d better be close enough for him to remember me at least.”

“Hunk, you’ve only known him for two school years, and i didn’t really interact with you guys until a few months ago.  Same with Shiro and Keith.  Name one thing before voltron that would cement us as being important.”

Hunk couldn’t really think of anything.  The three of them had been a joke in the garrison and he had hated Keith.  

“He might remember Shiro,” Hunk said suddenly, “he really thought big of him!”

“But he didn’t,” Pidge argued back.

“I don’t like your attitude, Bedivere,” Vik said folding her arms and puffing out her chest, “now is not the time for negativity!  Now is the time we steal Morganas spell book and weave a bit of magic!”

“What does that even mean!” Pidge yelled as vik jumped on top of her bed and bounced on it.

“We’ll steal the book!  Steal the book!”

“What…what book is that?” Shiro asked and Vik giggled madly.

“Lancelots book!” she flopped down onto the bed, “Lancelot stole Morganas book.  we must steal the book from Lancelot and find out his secrets.”

“…you mean his diary?” Hunk asked.

“Of course Lance keeps a diary,” Pidge hissed, “quiznak, i wish i’d thought of that months ago.”

“Lance writes in someone elses diary?” Shiro asked, thoroughly confused.

“Once upon a time,” Victoria started and Pidge rolled her eyes, “a boy and a girl were born.  they were so smart that an evil warlock became jealous.  He cursed them and the girl was locked up in a tower that bordered the real world and the land of fantasy called Shalott.  Not knowing her own name, she adopted the name Shalott and became one with the tower.  She was told that if she left, or even laid eyes on the outside world, her world would end and imagination would die.  The boys curse was to live in the dark and be lost; never knowing which way was up or down. While he stumbled through life, the girls life was stagnant and stale.  

“Until one day, the boy showed up at the gates of Shalott.  The terror he’d seen in the dark rendering him mute, he couldn’t state his name at the door, so she called him Lancelot and let him in.  Together they had what the other needed.  Shalott had need of the outside air, and Lancelot had need of a stable place.  

“Together they healed each others wounds and bonded once more.  The warlock hadn’t wanted them to be together because of the power both of them had together.  But they had found each other anyway and Shalott, realizing her brother had been damaged, sought revenge against the warlock.   In her anger, she took the mirror from the wall, her only view of the outside world, and smashed it.  She danced on it, crushing it to little bits.  So angry was she, that she didn’t even think about the curse until it was too late.

“But you guys already know what happened after that, but even after everything got better and all, Shalott found out that while Lancelot was in the darkness, doing the warlocks bidding, he’d kept a memento.  he told Shalott that it was taken from the courts of Morgana and he wouldn’t even let Shalott look inside.  For inside are the darkest spells.  Inside is a taste of darkness, and Lancelot would never let Shalott know of the worst, even when Shalott had walked in his shoes and knew of it all, he never ever let anyone see the darkest part.”

“Dude…” hunk breathed, drinking in every metaphor, “that’s messed up…”

“And so fundamentally wrong i don’t even know where to start,” Pidge sighed, “Actually i do know were to start.  You can stop talking in third person, its really annoying.”

Vik stuck her tongue out at Pidge.

“Soooo…the key is to steal and read the diary that Lance stole from someone else that he REALLY doesn’t want anyone to read…” Hunk said slowly, “I really don’t like the sound of this.”

“Its the only way i’m going to convince you all that you’re wrong,” Victoria said with a shrug.

“Wrong about what?” Shiro asked.

“You all had a much bigger impact on Lancelot than you think.”

()

Lance nibbled his toast as his mother quietly cooked dinner for everyone else.  It wasn’t so much that he couldn’t remember, but that he couldn’t even fathom those people as his ‘friends’.  Vik was all his wanted and all he needed.  Why would he be after more than that?

When he went up stairs to tell them that dinner was ready, he over heard Victoria telling then all the stories that he had told her over the years.

His initial thought was betrayal, but he knew Vik would never tell them those stories unless he had given her the ok. 

Had he given her the ok?

They said his memory was off, but he couldn’t imagine ever being THAT close to anyone other than Vik…


	19. Chapter 19

Lance followed a few feet behind them.  Victoria and Hunk had gone to the castle to look for the diary and Shiro and Pidge were to keep him company at the garrison so that he wouldn’t suspect anything.  He seemed suspicious of them already, but they had specified that ‘Shrio’ was ‘Shirogane’ and therefore he needed to go with them.  as they walked towards the building with the labs they were working in, they saw Keith march out, flinging the door to one side.

“Allura said he’d gone home,” Pidge said, “what’s he doing here?”

Keith sped walked down the sidewalk and into the top security building.  The one with their special prisoners.

“Oh boy,” Shiro sighed, “this can’t be good.”

They ran after him and Lance followed at a walk.

“Let me in there,” Keith growled as Iverson pushed him back.

“We’re interrogating them now,” Iverson said, “no one is allowed in until we’ve got the information that we want.”

“Too bad,” Keith snapped, “I’m gonna rip their tongues out and feed it to them.”

“Keith, what the heck!” Pidge ran up and Shiro grabbed his shoulders.

“Sorry, Commander Iverson,” Shiro said, “we’ll take him.”

“Oh no,” Keith pushed Shiro back, “I’ve got a score to settle and i’m pissed as Hell!  They destoyed my house!  My house!  and in my house they…they…MY HOUSE!”  Keith saw Lance walk in and Shiro saw him go pale.

“Keith, you ok?”

“…no, i’m not,” Keith swallowed and turned back to Iverson, “I’ll get whatever you want from these guys, but only if i can make them bleed.”

“That’s not how we do things, Kogone,” Iverson stated, “get out.”

The door opened behind Iverson and Robert stepped out.  He grinned at his audience.

“Well, well, i feel so special,” he said, his gravel voice grating on their eardrums, “there a purpose to the honor?”

“Yeah,” Keith snapped trying to throw a punch, but Shiro pulled him back.  Robert laughed.  He was laughing and Keith was starting to see red.

“Hey, hey!” Robert called, “Lance!  Come to visit your old uncle?  Thought i’d just forget you tried to blow me up?  That little present in my car before you all skipped the country was nicely done!”

They looked at Lance whose face had gone stone cold and unreadable.  Shiro reached out and grabbed Pidge as well since it looked like she might attack as well. 

“you’re old man and i taught you well!  Everything you are today you can thank us any time now.  Those lies you told me?  Yeah, don’t you dare think i’ve forgotten about that either!  You guys wanna hear?  This kid told us that you were a teady bear and your give your hand before a weapon, Hahahaha!  He neglected to tell us that your hand WAS a weapon!  Isn’t that a riot?!”

“Hurry and take him back to his cell,” Iverson snapped at the guards.  Shiro was starting to get angry and if he snapped there would be no saving this guy.

“Oh, but,” Robert sneered, “i’m working out that deal, right?  Iverson?  Buddie?  I work for you and I can reduce my sentence, yeah?”

“WHAT?!”

All three paladins rounded on Iverson who raised both hands, “Its not my desision,” he muttered through clenched teeth, “I offered to flip the switch on his chair myself, but its out of my hands.”

Robert laughed,  and then stopped.

he was looked past them and they looked at well.  Lance was smiling.  His eyes a cold blue that they’d never see before.  Raising one finger, he tapped his nose, turned around and left.

“…on…on second though,” Robert said quietly, ”i’ll settle for a life sentence.  Whatever you do…don’t let me out…”

“Like i said,” Iverson shrugged, “out of my hands.”

“No, you don’t get it,” roberts voice cracked as they pulled him away, “that’s his old mans face!  I’ll…no! Don’t let him near me!”

Keith, Shiro, and Pidge watched as the monster who had started everything now was almost crying in terror.

“Keith,” Shiro said quietly, “I think you need to explain your side of things.  But make it fast.”

()

“Got iiiiit~!” Vic shouted raising an old journal in the air.

“That’s it?” Hunk crawled back out from under Lances bed.  It wasn’t very big.  Not much could be written in it.

“I found it in his jacket,” Vik said, “there’s a pocket on the inside.”

_“Hunk?!”_

“Yeah, Shiro, what’s up?” Hunk stretched and worked out a kink in his shoulder.

“ _Lance is on his way back to the house.  we had a run in with Robert.  hurry back._ ”

“Oh for Effs sake,” Victoria sighed.

()

“Mmmba….bbha…”

Lance flipped his mattress off the bed and then his sisters.  he took out every drawer and emptied them.  the closet was turned inside out and he was about to rip out the floor boards until Victoria got there and was able to drag him out.

“B-b-b-b…”

“Its not in there,” Vik said, “You took your book into space, remember it.”

He shook his head and pointed to his room.

“Think really hard, Lancelot,” Vik grabbed his head and gave it a bit of a shake, “its not in that room.”

Lance sat in the middle of the hall and Vik had to try and calm him down.  His hands shook as he pointed at their room again.

“Nope, its not in there,” Vik said quietly, “you know where you put it.  Its in your head somewhere.”

She hugged him and winked at the others standing at the end of the hall behind him.  Pidge raised the book and motioned the others to follow her.

“You sure its ok to keep it from him?”  Shiro asked.

“Its small,” Pidge said, “we’ll flip through it and then give it to him.”

()

The first half of the book was unreadable; the pages were caked in what they told themselves was really dry paint.  further back the edges of the pages were marred, but you could make out a few sentences:

“ _\---------nd then just as we cor----pled pulled it together.  Kevin tried to end it too quickly.  We still had information to get from him.”_

“This is Morgana, I assume…” Keith muttered.  Hunk rolled his eyes.

“Well, this must be the other guys notes, because that’s not Lances handwriting,” Hunk said scooting away from Keith.  When keith gave him a look he apologized.

“Can we turn the page?” Pidge complained.

All the other pages were the same, only a few lines readable on each page. 

Then it was over.

“I don’t get it.”

“Nothing you could read really said anything.”

“I’m so confused.”

“Guys,” Pidge tapped the book, “He didn’t let Vik near it because its covered in…yuck.  I mean, look at this!”

“I’m trying not to.”

The book was suddenly snatched from Shiros hand.  Looking up, they say the angriest face. 

Lance looked down at them with a furry, clutching the book to his chest.

“MINE!”

The word was clear and he stormed back up the stairs.

“Funny,” Vik said, who had been standing behind him, “that was his first word last time as well.”

“I thought you were going to wait and make him stay upstairs while we did this!”

She shrugged, “He said he needed a drink.  I thought he was going to go to the bathroom to get one, but instead he came down here.  I guess I could’ve stopped him…but I wanted to see what he’d do.”

“You are no help.”

Vik grinned as though it were a compliment. 

That was when Lance raced back down the stairs and threw the book at them.  The corner of the book smacking Shiro squarely in the back of the head.

“PICTURE!” Lance roared, “PICTURE!  MINE!”

They al looked at Victoria while she looked at them.

“I have no idea what that means,” she said, “I know nothing about a picture….honest!”

They didn’t believe her.

“What is the picture of?” Shiro asked, rubbing his head, “maybe it fell out some time over the last few months…”

Lance kept shaking his head and pointing at them, accusing them, “NOW!  My..My….my Picture!”

Tears filled his eyes and he ran outside.

“And we’re now in trouble,” Vik said, but didn’t move. 

“I’ll go,” Shiro said, “the rest of you try and find…well…a picture.”

He rand after Lance leaving the others with the hard job.

()

“Mm,” Shiro watched as Lance looked around.  They had reached the park at the edge of town and the boy walked around with a very confused expression on his face.

“Ah, Lance, if you had wanted to get to the castle, then it was in the other direction…”

Lance stared at him, little spot of color on his face the only indication that he was embarrassed.  But he shrugged and began to walk back the way they had come.  

“Pidge and Hunk are looking for it,” Shiro said following close behind, “the moment they find it i’m sure they’ll contact us.”

Lance shook his head and kept walking.  The longer they walked the redder his face got.  

“Are you ok?” Shiro asked and Lance nodded.

“Are you lying?”

Lance shrugged.

Not good enough.  Heaving a large sigh Shiro grabbed Lances shoulder, spun him around and forced the kid to look him in the face.

“Ice cream,” Shiro said and Lance blinked, “we are going to go get ice cream.”

()

“I’m not finding it!”

“What about the mice?”

The mice squeaked indignantly.

“They haven’t either!”

“Just remember you’re CLEANING the vents as well as LOOKING in them!” Coran shouted. 

“WE KNOW!” came the chorus of irritated paladins.


	20. Chapter 20

“Feeling any better?” Keith asked handing Victoria a paper cup of water.  He’d thought about getting her a glass, but thought that he’d rather not give the girl ammunition.  

“Would you?!” she weezed, “my…my own…my own…to think he kept a picture of…of…THAT…”

She had pieced together what picture Lance must’ve been talking about, but had reacting be throwing everything she could get her hands on across the room.  She nearly hit Keith multiple times. 

It didn’t make much sense to Keith either.  From what he’d seen and heard, it didn’t make any sense.  

then again LANCE didn’t make any sense to Keith from the very beginning.

“Even so…” Keith said slowly, “reason or no, i’m sure he cares more about you.  It took me longer and…well, actually Hunk had to point it out to me.  But i’m sure you already know that Lance-”

“Oh stuff it Mullet,” Victoria said, sounding so much like Lance and he had to turn and make sure it really was her, “you guys may be in on our family, but you all will never understand.  Not really.  I just don’t understand WHY he would keep that…poison and actually CARE about it.”

Keith shrugged.  

“I’m not arguing with you,” he said, “in fact you make all the right points.  But we both know that with Lance, the rules really never matter.”

“…damn…you’re right…”

She sighed and drew her blanket around her.  she was calming down slowly and Keith felt a little glow of accomplishment.  

()

“What do we do…”  Hunks bottom lip trembled slightly.

“…pray?….”  Pidge had no idea.  Science wasn’t going to help with this one.  Only a good old fashioned miracle was going to fix it.

In Hunks hands was a pile of tiny pieces of a shredded photograph.  Lance had hidden his book in the vent.  The picture had somehow gotten loose and when the fans were turned on for ventilation….well….the picture hadn’t stood a chance against the ships air tunnels of death.

Without the mice’s help…they never would have found it.

Allura and Coran tried to scan each piece so the could put them together, but it would have taken forever, there were just so many tiny pieces.

()

When they got back, Pidge peaked inside the twins bedroom only to find Keith sitting on the floor by Victoria’s bed.  the girl was telling him one of the many stories that she and Lance had made up together.  Lance was nowhere to be seen.

she looked back at Hunk and shook her head.  Together they entered the room and showed them what they had found.

“Lance is gonna get pissed…”

As angry as she had been, Vic looked like she’d do anything at that point to put it back together.

“I think i’ll be the safest one,” she said holding out her hands, “since he doesn’t really remember you guys, he’ll have no qualms attacking you.”

“Would he really attack us over a picture?” Pidge asked and Keith almost glared at her.

“He chucked a book at Shiro, i think its safe to say he would.”

“Allura said she’d try to piece together what she’d been able to scan, but we’re not even sure if we have all the pieces.”

“Jigsaw puzzle from Hell,” Pidge sighed, “so what happened when this picute was taken that makes this so important?”

Viks face screwed up as she scowled.  Keith leaned away slightly and felt only a little relieved that he’d given her a paper cup instead of a sold one.  

“Nothing,” she muttered, “literally nothing…it was the best day ever.”

The paladins exchanged looks.

“…aaaaand that’s bad?”

“Che,” Vik sneered at them, “papa was scum.  there wasn’t a single day when he wasn’t hitting mama or us.  There wasn’t a single day when he wasn’t trying to manipulate and control our lives.  Not a single day….except that day.  For some reason he woke us both up before dawn and drove us all to the river.  Lance and I really thought he meant to kill us and use the river to hide the evidence.  But he didn’t…instead he taught us how to fish.  Not once that day did he raise his voice.  He even laughed and…for the first time we could remember…he hugged us.  He taught us how to build and start a campfire and how to clean and prepare the fish we caught.  We were completely taken off guard, but we knew better than to ruin the opportunity and spoil the moment.  Better to accept the gift and roll with it than to call it out and suffer.”

Vik started to bite her nails as she glared at the end of her bed.  The others kept quiet.  That couldn’t be all to the story.

“The next day it was like it never happened,” Vik said her scowling getting deeper, “we actually thought we had dreamed it.  It wouldn’t have been the first time we had the exact same dream…twin stuff, ya know.  but we had that picture. It was physical evidence that it had really happened.  That we had spent one day with our father and hadn’t been afraid of him once.  Just once.”

“why?” Hunk asked before he could stop himself.

“Hell if i know,” Vik snapped, “it was probably a new idea for manipulation, i don’t know!  We hated him all the more for it!  At least…i thought WE did…apparently I was the only one who hated that day the most!”

Keith didn’t understand really, but he understood false hope.  He also hated it and felt he at least understood her anger.  So now the only question was why didn’t Lance hate it?

“Lance is a romantic,” Pidge said, “i swear most of his choices and suggestions are either what he saw in a movie, or what he created all by himself.”

Hunk nodded, “that day was probably a life line.”

Vik crushed the paper cup in her hand as she glared at them, “what?”

Pidge sighed, “if you’d just think it through instead of getting emotional, you probably would have figured it out a long time ago.  Now this is just a theory and a guess, but you said that your dad was teaching Lance and you his…’trade’ of sorts?  Well, from what we know of Lance, he’s a pretty tender soul.  I honestly can’t picture any sort of blood on his hands at all.”

“I found out that he’s quick to blame himself when things go wrong,” Hunk continued and Keith snorted.

“Whatever,” the red paladin said, “everything was my fault remember?”

“A front,” Vik said before the others could, “the more he says something is not his fault the more he feels responsible for the outcome.”

Hunk and pidge nodded and Keith was still confused. It seemed the three of them were now one the same page and he was still on block one.  Pidge noticed his expression and shortened their explanation.

“He didn’t want to believe that his father was all bad because he was being taught to be like him.  If there was even a little good in the man, then there was also hope for himself.”

Keith thought that through.  

“There’s smoke coming out of his mullet,” Vik said grinning and Keith frowned at her.  She was back to the way she was before she’d found out about the picture.  It was true that after she had calmed down enough to think it through, it all made perfect sense.  She had just been so angry about it, that she’d blocked out any other kind of reasoning.

“I’ll talk to Lance about it tonight,” Vik said nodding, “and i’ll tell him about the picture.”

They put the scraps in a ziplock bag and Pidge asked where Shiro and Lance were.

“Shiro sent a message and said they were going to be gone for a little while, didn’t say where,” Keith said.

They sat in silence for a while until Hunk asked about the story they had interrupted when they arrived.

()

Shiro had wanted to use this time to gain Lances trust.  It had occurred to the man that he had never had to earn it.  Lance had given his trust to him openly and freely; even Hunk had said that Lance had to warm up to him at first.  

Shiro blinked at the brick red child before him.  They sat in the ice cream parlor and Lance stared at his shake as though he might be sick.  It had taken a long time, but Lance had gotten out what he’d wanted to say. 

“Well,” shiro said, “you can’t expect memories to come back all at once.  You said they were ‘snippets’, and that’s good.”

Lance shook his head, “…not…”

“Why isn’t it good?”

Lance took a deep breath and focused, “…am…mm…am..bad?”

Shiro frowned.  He was pretty confident at this point that he could understand the broken phrases pretty well, but couldn’t grasp this one.

“…bad?” Lance asked again.

“…no,” Shiro said, not sure if that was the right answer, but knew he needed to answer quickly, “Not at all.”

Shiro watched the boy relax and sigh a little.  

Lance, while he’d been freaking out about his missing picture began to get small flash backs to previous conversations with the people in front of him.  It had scared him as he started to remember everything out or order.

To him, the fact that he was so close to others other than Victoria made him feel like a traitor.  the snippets that he saw and remembered came with emotions and thoughts he’d had at the time as well.  He felt as though he had ruined his relationship with his sister…his other half.  It wasn’t the picture he’d kept, it was the fact that he’d made friends.

At least, that is what he had thought.

Had he become a horrible person?  was Victoria angry with him because he’d really become just like their papa?  

Those were the thoughts going through his mind and kept needling him.  Even after Shiro had told him he wasn’t a bad person…he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d messed up big time.

()

Lance stared at the pile of the shredded picture on Victorias side table.  The thick polaroid paper discolored and ruined on the rare piece that was large enough to see.  Even if he’d been able to piece it together, the picture would be spoiled and not visible anymore.  

“I really am sorry,” Victoria said holding onto his arm, “Though i can’t say i’m not a little…happy i don’t have to look at it- but i’m sorry you’re sad.  I’m sorry you don’t have it anymore.”

He knew why she’d hated it, but it didn’t stop him from being upset- no…he was terrified.  It was his charm.  It was his grounding evidence.  

What was he supposed to do without it?

He pulled his sister close and held onto her.  He was shaking and she held on tighter to him. They stood there, supporting each other like they always had.  

“Lancelot was never his parents,” Vic said, “neither are you. You have a round table downstairs that really cares for you and worries about you.  They see you as one of them, not papa.  let them be your reminder from now on…ok?”

Lance let her words sink in and thought about everything he knew about the group of “strangers-but-not-strangers” that they could hear through the floor. 

“You’re not ….not…angry ….with me?”

“Nope,” came the simple answer.

()

Diner was outside due to the amount of people that were at the house.  Layla had invited Hunks family over and they had brought their own contribution of the feast.

“I still think it would have been better to go back to the castle,” Allura said shaking her head, “there’s more room there.”

“And be away form my own pots and pans?” Lance’s mom laughed, “I think not!”

“Mama really loves her own kitchen,” Vic said picking up a bottle of hot sauce and making everyone jump.  When did she come downstairs let alone enter their view!?

“NO!”  Mary grabbed Vic, “put that down!  We’re making pie!”

“A little spice in pie should be fine,” Vic said showing a mischievous smile.

“Nooo!” Marco complained and he ran out of the kitchen as Vic tipped the bottle upside down.

Lance’s hand came out of nowhere and blocked bowl from the sauce and expertly snatched the bottle away from his sister.  Not a drop of sauce made it into the pie.

He then rubbed the sauce that spilled on his hand onto his other hand and held it up to Vic, who licked the sauce off his palm.  He licked his other hand.

“I still think it would taste just fine,” she shrugged licking her lips, “hot sauce goes with everything.”

Lance shrugged, choosing to neither agree or disagree.  He glanced around the room and froze.  Everyone was staring at him.  Frowning, he backed away and placed Victoria between him and the others.

“Feeling better?” Shiro asked.  Lance shrugged and linked arms with his sister.

“Ah,” their mother slapped his arm, “you know what the doctor said about that behavior. The last thing we need is for you two to go back to that ‘inner dependency’ thing, that we’ve just managed to get you OUT of!”

Victoria laughed and Lance rolled his eyes.  

“The doc thinks the reason Lance didn’t talk for so long was because i always knew what he wanted, so he never tried. Apparently a lot of twins who are really close suffer from it,” Victoria explained as the mother dragged Lance away to have him help her set up the table.

“Seems a logical conclusion,” Pidge said and waited for the rebuff, but it didn’t come. 

“Maybe,” Vic said sticking her finger in the pie filling, and holding out a berry for her.  Pidge shrugged and ate it off her finger.

The evening was cool, almost chilly, but the house had plenty of jackets to go around.  The sky was clear and as the children made their way to bed, Coran cleared his throat.

“We really should be going soon,” he said, his voice oddly loud as the many conversations lulled at the same time.

“That’s true…” Allura said, regrettably.  

“But,” Hunk glanced in Lances direction, “shouldn’t we…wait….a while?”

“I’m sure the Blades and other members of the Alliance are wondering where we are,” Coran argued, “I’m not saying we have to leave right away…but we can’t be away for much longer.”

Everyone fell silent with their own thoughts for a while.

They were back home and not a single one of them felt any drive to leave.  

“ok.”

They all stared at Lance who scowled back at them all for staring.  He shifted under their gazes and shrugged.  

“Well,” Shiro chuckled, “If Lance is ready to go, then we all don’t have much of an excuse, do we?”


	21. Chapter 21

“I don’t like it.”

“No one asked you sweetie,” Layla said, separating Victorias medication into the proper pill containers.

“But mama!” Victoria complained, “why can’t i go too?!”

Ever since Lance had openly chosen to leave once everything was settled, Vic had just assumed that she’d be allowed to go as well.  A table may or may not have been flipped when she had been told no.

“Because i would never force anyone outside these walls to handle your sweet disposition,” Layla gave her the most motherly smile and patted her cheek.

“Har har,” Vic pouted, “With Lance there i wouldn’t be so ‘sweet’.”

“What will happen if you run out of medicine?”  Layla asked, still as brightly as if they were discussing how many cups of flour to add to a recipe, “what happens when you have an episode or when things get far too dangerous?”  

“What if Lance gets into all those dangerous situations without me there to watch his back?!”

“I thought you liked the others?”

“…i do…but i prefer to watch with my own eyes…”

“mmm,” Layla took her daughters head in her hands and brushed back her hair.  Kissing the girl lovingly on the forehead she drew back, and with all the love in the galaxy said, “no.”

()

It was Keith who discovered the almost invisible writing on the back of the confettie picture.  The largest piece had “Rule 34” written on it, in what looked like very sloppy pencil.  Allura tried to use the feint pencil strokes to piece the hologram together.  Highlighting the markings from the scan she had taken of the picture pieces. 

When she was done they could only make out a few “rules”:

 

  * _*If your hand shakes, don’t hold the knife_
  * _*don’t talk, ---------- don’t------ don’t breathe don’t talk -----t breathe_
  * _*is rule 34 a lie?_
  * _\----------s----rd_
  * _* Souls exsist_
  * _*Peoples last breath smells different_
  * _*pressure points can go numb------- funny_
  * _*Rule 34 is a lie_
  * _*stu------su--ess_
  * _*fishing can be fun_
  * _*don’t take Paul fishing_
  * _*Mary and Shalott are fun to watch_
  * _*Paul is ‘dad’ not ‘papa’, those are not the same_
  * _* “Flying is Freedom” – Shirog---Taka--i_



Shiro raised an eyebrow at that one.  when had he said that?

“So this is why he wanted it,” Allura sighed, finally able to understand what the big deal was, “he wanted…whatever list this is.”

“Probably kept him sane, but,” Pidge tilted her head, “if he kept this and added to it, then were is all the stuff about us?”

“I think he may have stopped writing this after he got into the garrison,” Keith said, “I mean, this is kind of silly.”

“I’m going to search his room again~” Pidge said backing away slowly.

“No, don’t,” Shiro put a hand on her shoulder, “let him have some kind of privacy.”

()

The paladins, despite their needing to leave, dragged their feet as Lance slowly got his memories back.  It was little by little and his speech was getting better; though they noticed he didn’t talk quite as much as he did before.  If he messed up and got something wrong they could guarantee that he’d not speak for the rest of the day.

He spent a week with his lion, only coming out to eat, and then going back.  What he did was anyone’s guess, but he did seem happier when he rejoined them.  

They mostly stayed at the garrison, but made daily trips to the Mcclain house.  Once Paul was released from the hospital he encouraged everyone to come over more often.  Paul was a party man at heart and his energy was infectious.  

So infectious, that for those few days, Lance acted more like himself than he had in a long while.

“We now know where he heard all those really bad jokes,” Shiro said one evening, helping Layla clean up.  Paul and all five kids were passed out on the living room floor.  The snoring chorus was enough to shatter a window.

“Paul never was the really funny one, no matter how hard he tries,” Layla chuckled, “the effort he puts in is what makes it funny.”

“I’m glad everything turned out…well…better than it could…” Shiro bit his lip as he tried to find words to make what had come out disappear. 

“I’m glad as well,” Layla replied, understanding his intent, “we all knew that man would be let out of prison eventually.  We just hoped he’d live his life down there and forget about us.  I underestimated his scorn…and the scorn no doubt fed by his family and our little town.”

“But its over now?”

“Yes,” She nodded with a small smile, “Its odd, because i did love him, you know.  I wished and prayed for his death.  And then it finally happened, it was like a part of me died…no, it was like i could let go.  I never would let Lance run off to the other side of the country, let alone the galaxy.”

“You’ve got a strong group of kids,” Shiro nodded.

“I do,” Layla said proudly, “You realize we’ll have to lock Victoria up while you guys leave or she’ll find a way to sneak aboard.”

“I figured,” Shiro nodded.  It had been evident when he’d entered the house and found Victoria hanging off the back of the couch, stabbing the wall with a pen and glaring up at him as he walked toward the kitchen.  Her eyes had that crazed ‘i’ll do what i want’ look to them.  

“I want all of you to hurry back and be safe,” she said wiping her hands on her apron, “I’ll not have a single one of you not coming home, no excuses.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Shiro said and fought the urge to salute.  Layla could put iverson in his place if she had the mind to.  

()

They had a date.  Pidge, Shiro, and Hunk were finishing up with the garrison and after that, they all would say good-bye.

“Don’t tell anyone,” Keith said plopping down next to Lance and Victoria and looking around.  They had been in the back yard weeding the garden together.  The twins glanced at each others and turned similar faces to the red paladin.

“Mum,” they said together.

“I have to know,” Keith said, now wondering if the others were right and he should ask, “I’m Sorry, but i really can’t, not, know-”

“Gads, Keith!” Lance rolled his eyes, “spill!”

“What’s Rule 34?”

They blinked at him and Vic turned to her brother.

“Now its your turn to spill…cause i wanna know too.”

Lance turned a little red.  

“Its stupid,” he shrugged, “just a superstition, really…nothing very important…really stupid..foolish….childish…how do you even know about that anyway?”

“Lance.”

“…i mean, i don’t believe that way now, but at the time it was just-”

“Lance!”

“Rule 34: To kill a monster you must first be a monster.”

Keith scowled.  

Victoria snorted, “Robert would spew that garbage all the time just to keep us in line.”

Lance shrugged, “Its effective.  You tell a child that they’ll lose their humanity if they turn against you or don’t do what they say.  Course once we got older i realized how stupid it all was, but at the time…”

He let it hang and shrugged again.  He didn’t look bothered by it, only embarrassed that he’d believed it at all.  He acted as though he’d just confessed to still believing in the Tooth Fairy.  

“Glad we grew out of that,” Vic sighed and Lance rolled his eyes again.

“Whatever, you believed in the curse more than i did.”

“Nuhuh! if anything it was both of us!”

“Mmm, suuurrreee,” Lance grinned and looked over at Keith as though he should join in on the teasing.  But Keith didn’t know what to say or do at this point.  He was still mulling over Rule 34.  He’d been so keen on finding out what it was, he didn’t plan on what to do after he was told.

“How did you know about rule 34 anyway?”

“Allura was able to put together some of the pieces of your picture and I noticed that you wrote stuff on the back,” Ketih said, “Don’t tell the others I told you thins, they think it might set you back.”

“And you told me anyway? Gosh Keith, I don’t know if you care or not.”

“So, yeah…just, don’t tell anyone i asked you,” Keith stammered trying to get to his feet, but the twins pulled him back down.

“Shalott,” Lance finally said, dusting off his hands, “I do believe i have been insulted.”

“Indeed, Sir Lancelot,” Vic said, sitting back and acting her role as a lady despite the dirt on her face, “i fear the other knights think thee week and simple.”

“have i not shown them i have healed from the wounds of the beast?”

“Indeed.”

“Have I neglected my duties?”

“Not a one.”

“Have i shied away from the on coming storms?”

“I daresay you have not.”

“Then why, Gawain am i treated thus?  Am I to be pocked forever more?”

“I really hate both of you,” Keith said shaking his head, “and you should talk to the others if you’re really that insulted about it.  They’re only doing what they think is best, you know.”

“Still,” Vic said, still acting the lady, “to deny council to the one they force judgment upon is…rude…some may even go as far as to say’ ‘not cool’.”

“I thought so,” Lance nodded, “indeed this should be addressed before we quest.  but I am want for a grand display.  what say you, Shalott?”

“My, it has been too long, Lancelot,” Vic fanned herself, flicking dirt from her gardening gloves, “in what manner can we pull off such a feat all. by. our. selves…”

They both turned their faces to Keith.  A chill ran down his spine and he realized that he should’ve ran away a while ago-no, he should never have come in the first place. 

()

Keith walked up to the Mcclain house the next evening with Shiro and Allura.  The others would be coming by in a few hours.  The two boys, Marco and Milo, seemed to have attached themselves to Keith in the last few days.  When they got out of the car, the boys dropped the game they’d been playing and ran up to him.  they petered him with questions about his day and un asked information about their own days.

He stayed and listened, not sure why they bothered.  Marco looked more like Lance and Milo looked more like Paul, but Keith found it hard to believe that anyone related to Lance would like him.

“Boys!” Marry rode her bike up the drive way and scowled at them, “stop pestering Keith, I doubt he’s interested in how much glue you can fit into an eraser!”

“BOSSY MARY!” They shouted at her, “BOSSY MARY!”

And then they ran off as she made to go after them.  She clicked her tongue and put her hands on her hips.  Turning her intense green eyes on Keith she said, “And you could tell them to leave you alone, you know.  It wont kill them.”

She stormed past him and entered the house.  Keith shrugged and followed.  He hadn’t minded the chatter, more like he just wondered WHY any one would WANT to put glue in an eraser…

Shiro and Allura came out of the kitchen and met Mary in the living room and Keith joined them.

“Mom and dad are going to be a little late- they’re making up for all the days they took off- so we’re warming up some of Grammies pot-pies,” Mary was filling them in, when the closet door flew open with a crash and the twins jumped out with unearthly wails and cries.  

Keith, though he’d NEVER admit it, had his bayrad in hand before he realized that they were just the twins.  Though it was comforting to know that Shiro also had reacted the same way.

Their yelling and laughter died really fast and they quickly got rid of the blankets and masks that they had used as costumes.

“Nonono, Mary, its ok,” they said, reaching out for the stiffened child, “we’re sorry.  Its just us.  We’re sorry.  Its ok.”

Mary was stif as a board and fighting back tears as her bottom lip trembled.  the twins cuddled her on either side and stroked her hair.

“Sorry, Mary, we won’t do that again, promise,” they said, “we didn’t think you would be home yet.”

“Weren’t you gonna spend the night at Jannets today?”

Mary took a shuddering breath, “Jan’s a whore!”

And she ran up the stairs, pushing the twins away.  they watched her run off and Lance swore.

“our fault?”

“Most likely.”

“What were you two doing?” Allura asked incredulously.  Her heart was still jumping slightly, though it seemed silly that it should.

“Just a prank,” Shiro sighed shaking his head, “but i’m surprised Mary reacted like that.  She seems to be the most reasonable one in the family.”

“She’s got a good head on her shoulders,” Vic nodded while Lance picked up their mess, “but underneath all that logic is actually the most superstitious person you’ll ever meet.”

“It doesn’t help that she gets nightmares easily,” Lance grimaced, “which means she’ll be sleeping in our room tonight.”

“I’ll make the nest while you get dinner started?”

“yup.” He handed her the pile of blankets and headed to the kitchen while she headed upstairs.

“Were you waiting there all day?”

“Puh-leez, Shiro,” Lance rolled his eyes, “we waited till we could hear the garrison vehicle five streets away!  Where are the others anyway, we thought all of you were getting off early today.”

“Coran demanded an in depth and hands-on explanation on some tech or other,” Keith said sitting at the table, “seems he’s forgotten he’s the one who said we have to leave quickly.”

“Mmmm,” Lance shrugged and pulled a stack of tin foiled personal pie tins from the freezer, “well, i’ll cook their pies when they get back.”

“Pie for dinner?” Allura asked, she hadn’t heard any of the humans talk of this before.

“Its a meat pie,” Lance said taking off the foil and showing the frozen crust that had a smily face in the top, made by a spoon, “Made by our Grammie when she comes to visit.  They don’t visit often, so when they do, Grammie makes a ton of pot-pies for us to cook after she’s gone.  These truly are the best.”

“Interesting,” Allura said watching Lance place them on a cookie sheet and set the oven.  

Victoria came in then and looked around with a frown, “Where’s Hunk? And Pidge?”

Lance filled her in and she clicked her tongue as she sat next to keith.  He scooted over to make room for her on the bench and she grinned at him. He scowled back.

()

It wasn’t until two days later that they were all sitting around the table when Victoria gave Keith a good kick under the table.  

They were playing a card game and eating fries (a snack they all had missed while in space).  It was early afternoon and they would be leaving in two days.

Keith wanted to disappear.  

“So, Lance,” he said, not bothering to hide his irritation, “what is rule 34?”

The table went completely still, then Lance collapsed out of his seat and Vic screamed.  Hunk and Shiro were on their feet and Pidge gave Keith a dirty look.

Lance flopped on the ground, ketchup dribbling out of his mouth and covered one hand as he smeared it all over his shirt.

“I am slain….dear sister…”

“Noooo!” Vic fell beside her brother in the best example of ham acting known to man, “you can’t leave me!”

“…my…friends…think well of me…” Lance coughed, “tell…mother…that i didn’t draw on the wall when we were five….”

“No actually, that was you,” Vic said with a chuckle.

“…tell my fans….across the galaxy…that…that i …love…them…”

Dramatically he went limp and ‘died’.  vic made a show of sobbing and mourning.

the paladins and the Alteans had no idea how to react, except for Keith who rolled his eyes.

“I really, really, really, hate both of you.”

“Lance, what are you doing?” Shiro asked slowly.  Lance opened one eye and grinned.

“how was that?”

“What?”

Lance sat up and smiled up at them, “was that close to how you thought i’d react if you guys went and asked me questions?  Was i close at all?  As a true artist and professional, i demand honest feed back.”

“Well…what-”

“You guys are practically family,” Vic said, “if we didn’t want you to know anything or if we were going to be touchy about it, we woulda kicked you out a long time ago or just not told you anything from the start.”

“Seriously,” Lance said clicking his tongue at them as if they were naughty children, “if you tip toe around me all the time i might as well just stay on earth!”

“Don’t do that!” Allura and Pidge snapped while Hunk just looked like he’d sucked on a lemon.

“Point taken,” Shiro said raising his hands in surrender, “we’re sorry.”

“You were in on this?” Coran asked Keith.

“They forced me to do it,” he said, “remind me to NEVER ask them for favors, information, or in any way be in debt to them.”

“We just needed you to kick it off,” Vic said shaking her head at him, “stop being such a baby.”

they glared at each other while Lance and the others talked.

()

Keith felt himself come out of sleep.  The couch was oddly very comfortable.  The house was so quiet and still.  The night insects could be heard outside, but the house was silent.

So what woke him up?

His eyes popped open to find…

was it Lance or Victoria?

“You look better when you’re asleep,” Victoria said, “much less rage inducing.”

“…do i even want to know…”

“You guys are leaving in a few hours,” She said, “why you guys can’t even wait til after breakfast is beyond me, but then, you all are pretty stupid.”

Keith tried to turn around and go back to sleep.

“…i just wanted to say thank you for being Lance’s friend.”

“He hates my guts, so you can just thank everyone else,” Keith yawned.  Was she waking everyone else up like this too?

“Mmm…if he hated you he wouldn’t bother to talk to you,” Vic said casually, “good night.”

He heard her bare feet pad across the floor and go up the stairs.  

()

“Do you have everything you need?” 

Layla was tugging a comb through Pidges hair and absent-mindedly started to pin parts of it back.  they were all standing outside the ship while Coran, Hunks Father and Paul carried last minute supplies aboard.

“I packed you each a bag and all of you should be able to make do for a while. But this just assures you’ll come back soon for a refill.”

“We made some quick homemade freezer meals,” Hunks mom said, “just in case you guys are in a hurry.”

“We were supposed to leave two hours ago, mom,” Lance sighed, “you’re just giving Vic more time to pick the lock at home.”

“Oh i did that a long time ago,” Vic said making them all jump, “you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

she hung on Lance and he let her while her mother began to scold her.

“Calm down, mom,” Vic said, “I know i have to stay, i won’t leave.  Someone has to stay and look after the kids.  Jannet is going to get an ugly wake up call in about 45 minutes…”

“Ohhh, how bad?” Lance asked eagerly.

“She’ll have a hard time sleeping for the next few weeks and be a ‘good girl’ for the rest of her life. If not, her family might just have to move to the next state over.”

“Shame,” Lance sighed dramatically.

“Indeed,” Vic said reverently.  

“Well, that’s everything!” hunks father called putting an arm around his sons shoulders, “all is ready for you all to get going.”

Everyone mingled to say their good-byes.  Lance lingered in Pauls hug a little and Paul squeezed a little harder than usual.  

“You come back!” Vic shouted wrapping her arms around hunks neck and planting a huge kiss on his cheek, “I like you the most!”

hunk was stunned and Pidge tried to explain that Hunk was already in a relationship with a rock.

()

Earth grew smaller and smaller.

Shiro found Lance on the observation deck and sat next to him.  They sat in silence and watched as Kerboros came into view.  

Without warning Lance grabbed him and buried his face into Shiros shoulder.  He sobbed and cried while shaking.  Taken aback, but not at all surprised, Shiro held onto him and waited.

They had been worried because he hadn’t shown any release of emotion the entire time they’d been on earth, and they knew it had to happen some time.  This was Lance, after all.  

He would be fine.  

Lance had everything he needed.  

his family was well and safe.

His friends were safe and cared for him even when they knew about what a horrible person he was.  

Everything was going to be ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU EVERYONE! I will not lie, this is MUCH longer than i thought it would be! It started out as a musing and escalated into something i had not really prepared myself to write. I hope you enjoyed this. if you want to use this as a basis for a story of your own PLEASE tag me/send me a note so i can read it! (also because is only nice that ya do…but mostly because i wanna read what you have on this topic….)
> 
> I don’t normally outline a ship in my longer stories because i’m focusing on the actual plot, but i’m sure i added enough shipping food for everyone to be a little satisfied.*^^* And I really liked the idea of Vic developing a crush on Hunk,..like…i really liked that idea….
> 
> Any way, thank you all so much, i honestly would NOT have finished this without people actually reading it.*^^*<3 love ya all!


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